Date: 1774

"The attraction of the magnet is only exerted upon similar particles; and to taste the beauties of Homer it is requisite to partake his fire: but every one can relish the author who represents common life, because every one can refer to the originals from whence his ideas were taken"

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

Date: 1777

"The greedy Creditor, whose flinty breast / The iron hand of Avarice hath press'd, / Who never own'd Humanity's soft claim"

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

Date: 1777

"Where dwells the soul against Compassion steel'd, / Or who disdains the generous tear to yield?"

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

Date: 1777, 1780

"Every succeeding idea was happiness without allay; and his mind was not idle a moment till the morning sun awakened him."

— Reeve, Clara (1729-1807)

Date: 1788

"The same warmth which determined her will make her repent; and sorrow, the rust of the mind, will never have a chance of being rubbed off by sensible conversation, or new-born affections of the heart."

— Wollstonecraft, Mary (1759-1797)

Date: 1788

"In a state of bliss, it will be the society of beings we can love, without the alloy that earthly infirmities mix with our best affections, that will constitute great part of our happiness."

— Wollstonecraft, Mary (1759-1797)

Date: 1788

""Ah! will you not there hear me? Will you still inhumanly smile; will you still look so gentle, while your heart is harder than the rocks we shall see--colder than the snow that crowns them!--an heart on which even the pen of fire which Rousseau held would make no impression!"

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1788

"But tho' she was immoveably determined against receiving him again as a lover, she had not been able to steel her heart against his melancholy appearance; his palid countenance, his ematiated form, extremely affected her."

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1788

"As to you, my sweet marble-hearted Emmeline, I heartily pray that all your coldness both towards me and poor Delamere may be revenged by your feeling, on behalf of him, all the pain you have inflicted."

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1788

"For Virtue, with divine controul, / Collects the various powers of soul; / And lends, from her unsullied source, / The gems of thought their purest force."

— Williams, Helen Maria (1759-1827)