Date: 1667

"So unconcern'd she lives, so much above / The Rubbish of a sordid Jail, / That nothing doth her Energy improve / So much as when those structures fail."

— Philips [née Fowler], Katherine (1632-1664)

Date: 1684

"In proper Cells her large capacious Brain / The images of all things does contain, / As bright almost as were th'Ideas laid, / In the last model e'er the World was made."

— Behn, Aphra (1640?-1689)

Date: 1688

"I will be deaf and blind, and guard my Heart with Walls of Ice, and make you know, that when the Flames of true Devotion are kindled in a Heart, it puts out all other Fires; which are as ineffectual, as Candles lighted in the Face of the Sun."

— Behn, Aphra (1640?-1689)

Date: 1694

"What your own sentiments are, I know not, but I cannot without pity and resentment reflect, that those Glorious Temples on which your kind Creator has bestow'd such exquisite workmanship, shou'd enshrine no better than Egyptian Deities; be like a garnish'd Sepulchre, which for all it's glitterin...

— Astell, Mary (1666-1731)

Date: 1696

"Though, witness ye Powers (said she, looking up;) who, with ease can view the inmost Recesses of my Soul; and plainly see what's Acted there: Witness, I say, if I not rejoice, that Prince Emilius to Duty, and to Reason yields; quitting the Weight, the Burthen insupportable of Blind impetuous Pas...

— Pix, Mary (c.1666-1720)