Date: 1793

"Of all bondage, mental bondage is surely the most fatal; the absurd despotism which has hitherto, with more than gothic barbarity, enslaved the female mind, the enervating and degrading system of manners by which the understandings of women have been chained down to frivolity and trifles, have i...

— Hays, Mary (1760-1843)

Date: 1796, 1806

"Ambition!--not that emulative zeal Which wings the tow'ring souls of godlike men! / But bold, oppressive, self-created pow'r, / That, trampling o'er the barrier of the laws, / And scattering wide the tender shoots of pity, / Strikes at the root of reason, and confines / Nature itself in bondage!"

— Robinson [Née Darby], Mary [Perdita] (1758-1800)

Date: 1797

"Fear thee, O Death!--Or hug the chains that bind / To joyless, cheerless life, her sick, reluctant mind?"

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1797

"Thus man, the giant who now held her in captivity, would shrink to the diminutiveness of a fairy; and she would experience, that his utmost force was unable to enchain her soul, or compel her to fear him, while he was destitute of virtue."

— Radcliffe [née Ward], Ann (1764-1823)

Date: 1806

"The savage cheek / Smiles at the potent spoiler; braves his frown; / And while the partial gloom is most opake, / Still vaunts the mind unfetter'd!"

— Robinson [Née Darby], Mary [Perdita] (1758-1800)

Date: 1806

"The savage cheek / Smiles at the potent spoiler; braves his frown; / And while the partial gloom is most opake, / Still vaunts the mind unfetter'd!"

— Robinson [Née Darby], Mary [Perdita] (1758-1800)

Date: 1825

"This hallowed day, in Hymen's golden bands / Which joined consenting hearts and willing hands."

— Barbauld, Anna Letitia [née Aikin] (1743-1825)

Date: w. c. 1789, published 1825

"Dost thou not see,--or art thou blind with age,-- / How many Graces on her eyelids sit, / Linking those viewless chains that bind the soul, / And sharpening smooth discourse with pointed wit."

— Barbauld, Anna Letitia [née Aikin] (1743-1825)

Date: 1842

"Regret came shivering through my veins, / And bound my tongue in iron chains; / My soul in prison seem'd to be / And ever must if torn from thee."

— Blamire, Susanna (1747-1794)