I begged him to excuse me, and the lady backed me up, saying I could not possibly play in the midst of such a sneezing fit.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

When, but without any confidence, I had arrived at these conclusions, and beguiled my uneasy spirit, I covered my head with my tunic and began to feign sleep, when all of a sudden, as though Fortune were bent upon annihilating my peace of mind, a voice upon the ship’s deck gritted out something like this--“So he fooled me after all.
— from The Satyricon — Complete by Petronius Arbiter

Putting the case between my knees and exerting my utmost strength, I contrived to draw off the cover.
— from The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

Lib. 3. mille vix anni sufficerent ad omnes illas machinationes, dolosque commemorandos, quos viri et mulieres ut se invicem circumveniant, excogitare solent.
— from The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton

I threw a small pebble towards the interior parts of is [it], with my utmost strength: I could hear that it fell into the water, and notwithstanding it was of so small a size, it caused an astonishing and horrible noise, that reverberated through all those gloomy regions.
— from The Expeditions of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, Volume 1 (of 3) To Headwaters of the Mississippi River Through Louisiana Territory, and in New Spain, During the Years 1805-6-7. by Zebulon Montgomery Pike

583 “Italus a Parmensi ad Foederatos perfugiens, inauditam artem jactabat parandi vasa, cavatosque e ferro aut lapide globos, qui in obsessas urbes adigerentur, impleti ejus naturæ materiâ, ut simul ignem concepissent, in innumeros quasi acinos dissilirent.”
— from Gunpowder and Ammunition, Their Origin and Progress by H. W. L. (Henry William Lovett) Hime

For, while measures undisguisedly socialistic in character are more and more advocated and adopted, the open principle of State socialism seems to find less support every year.
— from A Hundred Years Hence: The Expectations of an Optimist by T. Baron Russell

“That’s all right, my uncle says I can have a new one!” piped up a shrill voice, in imitation of Fenton’s usual tones.
— from The Rival Pitchers: A Story of College Baseball by Lester Chadwick

Upon cooling, the liquid magma may precipitate crystals of various minerals until solidification is complete to form an igneous or magmatic rock .
— from Volcanoes by Robert I. Tilling

I chose the most unassuming shop I could find, where a little boy was taking down the shutters—one of those general stores where they sell everything.
— from Greenmantle by John Buchan

"They're three mair Urtach shepherds 'ill come in by sune; they're frae Upper Urtach, an' we saw them fording the river; ma certes, it took them a' their time, for it wes up tae their waists and rinnin' like a mill lade, but they jined hands and cam ower fine."
— from Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush by Ian Maclaren

"I have looked the matter up since I came here.
— from Northern Lands; Or, Young America in Russia and Prussia by Oliver Optic

On the Mount of Mercury, unusual success in commerce, business, science, or great eloquence, according to other indications of the hand.
— from Palmistry for All by Cheiro

She then retired to her own room, and slept soundly, in spite of anticipations of lectures from her mother upon supposed improprieties committed at Hatton.
— from The Manoeuvring Mother (vol. 2 of 3) by Bury, Charlotte Campbell, Lady