Date: 1788

"Whene'er to Afric's shores I turn my eyes, / Horrors of deepest, deadliest guilt arise; / I see, by more than Fancy's mirror shewn, / The burning village, and the blazing town."

— More, Hannah (1745-1833)

Date: 1788

"The storm once past, he gains the friendly ray / Of hope, to guide him through the dang'rous way; / Smiling, she bids each future prospect rise, / Through fancy's vary'd mirror, to his eyes."

— Falconar, Maria (b. 1771-) and Harriet (b. 1774-)

Date: 1788

"And ah! the blessings valued most / By human minds, are blessings lost / Unlike the objects of the eye, / Enlarging, as we bring them nigh, / Our joys, at distance strike the breast, / And seem diminish'd when possest."

— Williams, Helen Maria (1759-1827)

Date: 1788

There are those "whom the traffic of their race / Has robb'd of every human grace; / Whose harden'd souls no more retain / Impressions Nature stamp'd in vain; / All that distinguishes their kind, / For ever blotted from their mind; / As streams, that once the landscape gave / Reflected o...

— Williams, Helen Maria (1759-1827)

Date: 1793

"In fancy's mirror dreadful scenes appear, / Design'd by doubt, and magnified by fear, / There some gay female, frivolous and vain, / Artfully forms the captivating chain; / Makes him the slave of passion and caprice, / Perverts his principles, and wounds his peace."

— Burrell [née Raymond, later Clay], Sophia, Lady Burrell (1750-1802)

Date: 1811

"Her hazle eye, unfix'd and bright, / Dazzles with ever-changing light, / Like flames toss'd by the wind; / Now swimming in quick-passing sadness, / Now laughing in her soul's pure gladness, / The mirror of her mind"

— Mitford, Mary Russell (1787-1855)

Date: 1814

The Muse may "wave the gloomy Sceptic's ebon wand" and bound "our cloudy view with endless night; / Like Polyphemus with destructive might, / Revenging thus thy loss of mental sight"

— Grant [née MacVicar], Anne (1755-1838)

Date: 1814

Patriots of old saw "In the fair mirror of each mighty mind / Each other's worth and talent"

— Grant [née MacVicar], Anne (1755-1838)

Date: 1814

"The Critic, too, with wit and taste refined, / Holds up the mirror that reflects the mind;"

— Grant [née MacVicar], Anne (1755-1838)

Date: 1814

"[T]he soul's image to the view is brought / In the calm mirror of unruffled thought"

— Grant [née MacVicar], Anne (1755-1838)