Date: w. 1677, 1702

"Vain wandring Thoughts, that crowd within my Breast / Do oft obstruct my Soul from Solid Rest; / like to vagrant Clouds, obscure the Mind / Which should to serious watching be inclin'd."

— Mollineux [née Southworth], Mary (1651-1695)

Date: 1709

"How soft the first ideas prove, / Which wander through our minds!"

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

Date: 1713

"Thus far, our slow Imagination goes: / Wou'd the more skill'd THEANOR his disclose; / Expand the Scene, and open to our Sight / What to his nicer Judgment gives Delight; / Whose soaring Mind do's to Perfections climb, / Nor owns a Relish, but for Things sublime."

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

Date: 1713

"An equal Partner in the vanquish'd Earth, / A Brother, not impos'd upon my Birth, / Too weak a Tye unequal Thoughts to bind, / But by the gen'rous Motions of the Mind."

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

Date: 1713

"How soft the first Ideas prove, / Which wander through our Minds!"

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

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: 1723, 1725

"Reflection was unhing'd; the noble Seat of Memory fill'd with Chimera's and disjointed Notions; wild and confus'd Ideas whirl'd in his distracted Brain; and all the Man, except the Form, was changed."

— Haywood [née Fowler], Eliza (1693?-1756)

Date: 1692, 1724

"I had but just cast my Eyes on the Picture, which was inclos'd, when I found such Motions in my Heart as surpriz'd me, being what I never felt before."

— Aulnoy, Madame d' (Marie-Catherine) (1650/51-1705)

Date: 1732

"In a Word, he travers'd the Wilderness dejected with Love, Despair, Expectance, jealous Doubts, till wearied with the Journey of his Mind, more than the Travel of his Body; he rested him in the Alcove, if possible to compose his Humour, which began to be somewhat impatient at the Neglect he conc...

— Boyd, Elizabeth (fl. 1727-1745)

Date: 1732

"During this Time, the Prince, who had order'd the Guard to halt, and whom the Story of Duke Bellfond's Page had made attentive, strictly view'd Amanda, and fancy'd he could in that Lady trace all Florio's Features, whilst the distress'd Fair One, who imagin'd she was the Subject of Amelia's Disc...

— Boyd, Elizabeth (fl. 1727-1745)