Tofound a great Empirefor thesolepurpose of raising up a people of customers, mayat first sight appeara project fit only for a nation of shopkeepers. It is, however, a project altogether unfit for a nation of shopkeepers; but 798 extremely fit for a nation that isgoverned by shopkeepers. See Napoleon 607:68, Punch 672:7, Stoppard 825:66.

-Smith, Adam
  An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of theWealth of Nations, bk.4, ch.7, pt.3.

He had been eight years upon a project for extracting sun-beams out of cucumbers, which were to be put into vials hermetically sealed, and let out to warm the air in raw inclement summers.

-Swift,Jonathan
  Gulliver'sTravels,'A Voyage to Laputa, etc.'ch.5.