On alien air; but was conceived, like air, In the first origin of this the world, As a fixed portion of the same, as now Our members are seen to be a part of us.
— from On the Nature of Things by Titus Lucretius Carus

Holmes’s knowledge of the byways of London was extraordinary, and on this occasion he passed rapidly and with an assured step through a network of mews and stables, the very existence of which I had never known.
— from The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

They are gentle and accessible by nature; and to obtain the favour of a kiss on the lips, one need only make a show of kissing their hands.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

The news of my arrival soon reached the ears of the king, and two pages were sent to request me to wait at once on his Majesty; but my luggage was not yet forthcoming, and I objected that I could not visit him in my travelling-dress.
— from Travels in the Central Parts of Indo-China (Siam), Cambodia, and Laos (Vol. 1 of 2) During the Years 1858, 1859, and 1860 by Henri Mouhot

“Lord, what signifies that?” said Miss Polly, “you’re no old maid, and so you needn’t be so very formal: besides I dare say those you are engaged to a’n’t half so near related to you as we are.”
— from Evelina, Or, the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World by Fanny Burney

That nature of mind and soul corporeal is: For when 'tis seen to drive the members on, To snatch from sleep the body, and to change The countenance, and the whole state of man To rule and turn,—what yet could never be Sans contact, and sans body contact fails— Must we not grant that mind and soul consist Of a corporeal
— from On the Nature of Things by Titus Lucretius Carus

Turning to him, therefore, I said— "I consent to your demand, on your solemn oath to quit Europe for ever, and every other place in the neighbourhood of man, as soon as I shall deliver into your hands a female who will accompany you in your exile."
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Old Ben the Whaler, as they called him, was the one who took most notice of me, and said that I should be a man one of these days, which I was very glad to hear then.
— from Poor Jack by Frederick Marryat

Nevertheless she willed them to present this crystal mound, a note of monarchy, and symbol of perfection, to thy more worthy deity; which, as here by me they most humbly do, so amongst the rarities thereof, that is the chief, to shew whatsoever the world hath excellent, howsoever remote and various.
— from Cynthia's Revels; Or, The Fountain of Self-Love by Ben Jonson

Notices of mermaids are scattered abundantly in books of bygone times.
— from Folk-lore of Shakespeare by T. F. (Thomas Firminger) Thiselton-Dyer

[19] Created Lord Napier of Magdala after storming King Theodore's fortress in 1868.
— from Victorian Worthies: Sixteen Biographies by George Henry Blore

It is on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, one hundred and six miles north of Montgomery, and seventy-four north of Mobile.
— from The American Missionary — Volume 43, No. 08, August, 1889 by Various

Capricious pardon and arbitrary punishment imbittered the irksomeness and discontent of a long reign: a conspiracy was formed in the palace; and, unless we are deceived by the names of Marcellus and Sergius, the most virtuous and the most profligate of the courtiers were associated in the same designs.
— from History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 4 by Edward Gibbon

Now on Monday after St. Giles' I am back again at Jobst Planckfelter's, and have dined with him as many times as are drawn here-IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII.
— from Records of Journeys to Venice and the Low Countries by Albrecht Dürer

These teachers would be forever estopped from so much as mentioning the shining names of Marathon and Salamis.
— from America and the World War by Theodore Roosevelt