Milly looked at her as if she were almost venerably simple, but also as if this were what one loved her for.
"The Wings of the Dove, Volume 1 of 2"
Henry James
They smelt strongly of the bookseller's lump lots by order; but if a show soldiery, they were not a sham, like a certain row of venerably-titled backs, that Lady Charlotte, without scruple, left standing to blow an ecclesiastical trumpet of empty contents; any one might have his battle of brains with them, for the twining of an absent key.
"The Complete Project Gutenberg Works of George Meredith"
George Meredith
And the dresser, the settles, the oblong table, the rush-bottomed chairs, the big chest by the side wall, all looked sturdily genuine; venerably conscious of the boast that they had defied the greedy collector and would continue to elude his most insidious approaches.
"The Jervaise Comedy"
J. D. Beresford