Date: 1688

"Here's Cavities, says one; and here, says he, / Is th' Seat of Fancy, Judgment, Memory: / Here, says another, is the fertile Womb, / From whence the Spirits Animal do come, / Which are mysteriously ingender'd here, / Of Spirits from Arterious Blood and Air: / Here, said a third, Life made her fi...

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

Date: 1712, 1715, 1719

"I will not repeat to you, Madam, the divers Conflicts of my Thoughts and the Agitation of my Mind on this Occasion; for my Interior labour'd as it were under a Fever and Ague, burning with an irresistible Inclination for Marcellus"

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

Date: 1712, 1715, 1719

"[W]hen once Passion blinds us, Passion misguides us, Passion overthrows us, Passion destroys us, and no Passion so strong and so deceitful as that of Love; Love rocks our Reason into a Lethargy, and then does what it pleases with the rest of our Interior"

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

Date: 1712, 1715, 1719

"Then since it is impossible to make my Heart cease from sighing Love, and my Mind from thinking Love, my Eyes from languishing, it is vain to command my Tongue to cease from declaring what all my interiour Passions dictate"

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

Date: 1713

"Away the Skilful Doctor comes / Of Recipes and Med'cines full, / To check the giddy Whirl of Nature's Fires, / If so th' unruly Case requires; / Or with his Cobweb-cleansing Brooms / To sweep and clear the over-crouded Scull, / If settl'd Spirits flag, and make the Patient dull."

— Finch [née], Anne, Countess of Winchilsea (1666-1720)

Date: 1713

"But silent Musings urge the Mind to seek / Something, too high for Syllables to speak; / Till the free Soul to a compos'dness charm'd, / Finding the Elements of Rage disarm'd, / O'er all below a solemn Quiet grown, / Joys in th'inferiour World, and thinks it like her Own."

— Finch [née], Anne, Countess of Winchilsea (1666-1720)

Date: 1713

"Falsly, the Mortal Part we blame / Of our deprest, and pond'rous Frame, / Which, till the First degrading Sin / Let Thee, its dull Attendant, in, / Still with the Other did comply, / Nor clogg'd the Active Soul, dispos'd to fly, / And range the Mansions of it's native Sky."

— Finch [née], Anne, Countess of Winchilsea (1666-1720)

Date: 1713, 1719

"Thus my Thoughts play'd at Racket, and seldom minded the Line of Reason"

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

Date: 1713, 1719

"[M]y Mind labour'd under a perpetual shaking Palsy of Hope and Fear; my whole Interiour was nothing but Distraction and Uncertainty"

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

Date: 1713, 1719

"It is this reserv'd Mein, Madam, which has often deter'd me, and commanded my Tongue to a respectful Silence; whilst my poor Heart, overcharg'd with Passion, only eas'd it self with Sighs, and my Looks were the only Language whereby to express my interior Thoughts"

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)