Under the reign of an apostate, he had signalized his zeal for the honor of Christianity: he allowed to his subjects the privilege which he had assumed for himself; and they might accept, with gratitude and confidence, the general toleration which was granted by a prince addicted to passion, but incapable of fear or of disguise.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes) by Edward Gibbon

When my floor was dirty, I rose early, and, setting all my furniture out of doors on the grass, bed and bedstead making but one budget, dashed water on the floor, and sprinkled white sand from the pond on it, and then with a broom scrubbed it clean and white; and by the time the villagers had broken their fast the morning sun had dried my house sufficiently to allow me to move in again, and my meditations were almost uninterupted.
— from Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

two French officers of distinction and rank entered the church!
— from Biographia Literaria by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

And he left behind him a great number of writings, and books of recommendation, and verses, which are these,—six books on Natural Philosophy; six on Wisdom; one on Riches, the Arcadian; one volume on the Indefinite; one on a Child; one on Temperance; one on the Useful; one on the Free; one on Death; one on the Voluntary; two on Friendship; one on Courtesy; two on Contraries; two on Happiness; one on Writing; one on Memory; one on Falsehood; the Callicles one; two on Prudence; one on Œconomy; one on Temperance; one on the Power of Law; one on Political Constitutions; one on Piety; one to show that Virtue may be transmitted; one about the Existent; one on Fate; one on the Passions; one on Lives; one on Unanimity; two on Pupils; one on Justice; two on Virtue; one on Species; two on Pleasure; one on Life; one on Manly Courage; one on The One; one on Ideas; one on Art; two on the Gods; two on the Soul; one on Knowledge; one on the Statesman; one on Science; one on Philosophy; one on the School of Parmenides; one the Archedemus, or an essay on Justice; one on the Good; eight of those things which concern the Intellect; [157] ten essays in solution of the difficulties which occur respecting Orations; six books on the study of Natural Philosophy; the Principal, one; one treatise on Genus and Species; one on the doctrines of the Pythagoreans; two books of Solutions; seven of Divisions; several volumes of Propositions; several also about the method of conducting Discussions.
— from The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius

Reflecting on the character and the menaces of Montoni, it appeared not improbable, that he had delivered her to them, for the purpose of having her murdered, and of thus securing to himself, without further opposition, or delay, the estates, for which he had so long and so desperately contended.
— from The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Ward Radcliffe

In the stable the Captain found jugs full of old dollars and shillings.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

The Greatest of humane Powers, is that which is compounded of the Powers of most men, united by consent, in one person, Naturall, or civill, that has the use of all their Powers depending on his will; such as is the Power of a Common-wealth: or depending on the wills of each particular; such as is the Power of a Faction, or of divers factions leagued.
— from Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

[38] In order to show the degree of sensitiveness of spectroscopic reactions the following observation of Dr. Bence Jones may be cited: If a solution of 3 grains of a lithium salt be injected under the skin of a guinea-pig, after the lapse of four minutes, lithium can be discovered in the bile and liquids of the eye, and, after ten minutes, in all parts of the animal.
— from The Principles of Chemistry, Volume I by Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleyev

And in this general scrimmage, Dr. Fillery, at first, could see no sign of his expected arrivals; he walked from end to end of the platform littered with luggage and thronged with bustling people, but nowhere could he discover the familiar outline of Devonham, nor anyone who answered to the strange picture that already stood forth sharply in his mind.
— from The Bright Messenger by Algernon Blackwood

When I see you, I shall tell you that I have some fears of Olivier Dalibard; he has evidently some wily project in view.
— from Lucretia — Volume 02 by Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron

This condition has been found in the female offspring of degenerate families, who are otherwise normal and who have produced children, despite the cloaca.
— from Degeneracy: Its Causes, Signs and Results by Eugene S. (Eugene Solomon) Talbot

Well, I'll hear it, sir; yet you must not think to fob off our disgrace with a tale: but, an't please you, deliver.
— from The Tragedy of Coriolanus by William Shakespeare

This, when finished, tempered, ground, and lashed firmly to a smooth staff of wood, some two inches in diameter and eight feet in length, was really a formidable weapon, either for offence or defence.
— from Perseverance Island; Or, The Robinson Crusoe of the Nineteenth Century by Douglas Frazar

It was at this juncture, as certain of the department staff began to bethink themselves of important duties awaiting them at their offices, that one of the old-time characters of the old army, a field officer of distinction in the war days, was heard to express himself somewhat as follows: "Well, whereaway is Willett now?"—a question that had occurred to every member present, and to many a man and woman without the council, but this was its first audible expression.
— from Tonio, Son of the Sierras: A Story of the Apache War by Charles King

These towers rose over the houses of powerful and wealthy families, to be used for offence or defence, when the faction fights raged, or to be dismantled and cut down when the people gained the upper hand.
— from The Story of Florence by Edmund G. Gardner

Richard then renewed his request that the queen would fulfil her promise, and bestow Isabella upon him, if so it were that he had deserved her, but if not, he begged to be sent where he might find opportunities of doing so.
— from The Exemplary Novels of Cervantes by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra