As a writer, I read a variety of material, and recently read a compilation of various versions of Beauty and the Beast. I found the following passage interesting, mainly because its style is so different than writing today:
She was not alarmed at the sentiments with which you might inspire her, and persuaded that her virtue was sufficient to guarantee her against the snares of love, she attributed her sensations to a simple curiosity to ascertain if there were still upon the earth men capable of loving virtue unembellished by exterior ornaments, which render it more brilliant and respectable to vulgar souls than its own intrinsic merit, and frequently, by their fatal attractions, obtain the reputation of virtue for the most abominable vices.
– Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve (Translated by James Robinson Planché)
That’s… one sentence.
