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."

— 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?"

— Edgeworth, Maria

Date: 1799

"And, indeed, there is so much truth in the remark, that till women shall be more reasonably educated, and till the native growth of their mind shall cease to be stinted and cramped, we have no juster ground for pronouncing that their understanding has already reached its highest attainable point...

— More, Hannah (1745-1833)

Date: 1799, 1806

Gold "tipp'st the leaves of fancy's fairest flow'r / With glitt'ring drops: it feels the numbing spell / Creep through each fibre slow; while ev'ry ill / Of sordid mis'ry blossoms to devour"

— Robinson [Née Darby], Mary [Perdita] (1758-1800)

Date: 1800

"So the schemes / Rais'd by fond Hope in youth's unclouded morn, / While sanguine youth enjoys delusive dreams, / Experience withers; till scarce one remains / Flattering the languid heart, where only Reason reigns!"

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1801

The urchin's mind may be like "a weedy garden wild"

— Sawyer, Ann (fl. 1794-1801)

Date: 1814

"The mind of a child is like the acorn; its powers are folded up, they do not yet appear, but they are all there."

— Barbauld, Anna Letitia [née Aikin] (1743-1825)

Date: 1814

A "ripening mind" may be "fitted for a throne"

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

Date: 1814

"Instruction is the food of the mind; it is like the dew and the rain and the rich soil."

— Barbauld, Anna Letitia [née Aikin] (1743-1825)

Date: 1825

"Is there whose hours / Of still domestic leisure breathe the soul / Of friendship, peace, and elegant delight / Beneath poetic shades, where leads the Muse / Through walks of fragrance, and the fairy groves / Where young ideas blossom?"

— Barbauld, Anna Letitia [née Aikin] (1743-1825)