Date: 1719-1720, 1725
"But when he consider'd how much he had struggled, and how far he had been from being able to repel Desire, he began to wonder that it cou'd ever enter into his Thoughts, that there was even a Possibility for Woman, so much stronger in her Fancy, and weaker in her Judgment, to suppress the Influe...
preview | full record— Haywood [née Fowler], Eliza (1693?-1756)
Date: 1763
"The heart of a woman does, I imagine, naturally gravitate towards a handsome, well-dressed, well-bred fellow, without enquiry into his mental qualities."
preview | full record— Brooke [née Moore], Frances (bap. 1724, d. 1789)
Date: 1778, 1779
"Far be it from me," said Lord Orville, "to dispute the magnetic power of beauty, which irresistibly draws and attracts whatever has soul and sympathy."
preview | full record— Burney [married name D'Arblay], Frances (1752-1840)
Date: 1790
"If her heart was not quite at peace, its exquisite sensibility was corrected by the influence of reason; as the quivering needle, though subject to some variations, still tends to one fixed point."
preview | full record— Williams, Helen Maria (1759-1827)
Date: 1791, 1794
"The name, like a sudden spark of electric fire, seemed for a moment to suspend his faculties--for a moment he was transfixed; but recovering, he caught Belcour's hand, and cried--'Stop! stop! I beseech you, name not the lovely Julia and the wretched Montraville in the same breath."
preview | full record— Rowson, Susanna (1762-1828)