Date: 1793
"If the mind is a barren waste, of what avail are the beauties of the most lovely face, the elegance of the most enchanting shape, the grace of the most accomplished person; the imperceptible hand of time will deprive them of every external charm, and eclipse the lustre of the most penetrating eye."
preview | full record— Anonymous [By an American Lady]
Date: 1794
"But, though misfortune had somewhat conquered the asperities of Madame Montoni's temper, and, by increasing her cares for herself, had taught her to feel in some degree for others, the capricious love of rule, which nature had planted and habit had nourished in her heart, was not subdued."
preview | full record— Radcliffe [née Ward], Ann (1764-1823)
Date: 1795
Strong ideas may be "rooted" in the brain
preview | full record— Cristal, Anne Batten (b. c.1768)
Date: 1796, 1806
"Ambition!--not that emulative zeal Which wings the tow'ring souls of godlike men! / But bold, oppressive, self-created pow'r, / That, trampling o'er the barrier of the laws, / And scattering wide the tender shoots of pity, / Strikes at the root of reason, and confines / Nature itself in bondage!"
preview | full record— Robinson [Née Darby], Mary [Perdita] (1758-1800)
Date: 1796
"Her mind was a soil which received and naturalized all that was sown in it."
preview | full record— Burney [married name D'Arblay], Frances (1752-1840)
Date: 1796
"Gaiety was so truly the native growth of the mind of Camilla, that neither care nor affliction could chace it long from its home."
preview | full record— Burney [married name D'Arblay], Frances (1752-1840)
Date: 1797
"Still shall the plaintive lyre essay its powers / To dress the cave of Care with Fancy's flowers."
preview | full record— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)
Date: w. September 1794, 1797
"Wit, that no suffering could impair, / Was thine, and thine whose mental powers / Of force to chase the fiends that tear / From Fancy's hands her budding flowers."
preview | full record— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)
Date: 1798
"On the contrary, if, to entice him to enter the paths of knowledge, we strew them with flowers, how will he feel when he must force his way through thorns and briars?"
preview | full record— Edgeworth, Maria