Date: 1703
"Distorted Nature shakes at the Controul, / With strong Convulsions rends my strugling Soul; / Each vital String cracks with th' unequal Strife, / Departing Love racks like departing Life; / Yet there the Sorrow ceases with the Breath, / But Love each day renews th' torturing scene of Death."
preview | full record— Egerton [née Fyge; other married name Field], Sarah (1670-1723)
Date: 1703
"The true, substantial Wealth is lodg'd within; / 'Tis there the brightest Gems are found: / Such as wou'd great and glorious Treasures win, Treasures which theirs for ever will remain, / Must Piety and Wisdom strive to gain."
preview | full record— Chudleigh [née Lee], Mary, Lady Chudleigh (bap. 1656, d. 1710)
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."
preview | full record— Finch [née], Anne, Countess of Winchilsea (1666-1720)
Date: 1713
"But silent Musings urge the Mind to seek / Something, too high for Syllables to speak; / Till the free Soul to a compos'dness charm'd, / Finding the Elements of Rage disarm'd, / O'er all below a solemn Quiet grown, / Joys in th'inferiour World, and thinks it like her Own."
preview | full record— Finch [née], Anne, Countess of Winchilsea (1666-1720)
Date: 1713
"Falsly, the Mortal Part we blame / Of our deprest, and pond'rous Frame, / Which, till the First degrading Sin / Let Thee, its dull Attendant, in, / Still with the Other did comply, / Nor clogg'd the Active Soul, dispos'd to fly, / And range the Mansions of it's native Sky."
preview | full record— Finch [née], Anne, Countess of Winchilsea (1666-1720)
Date: 1717
"I render back the Treasure of thy Heart: / When in some new fair Breast it finds a Room, And I shall lie neglected in my Tomb; / Remember, oh! remember, the fair She / Can never love thee, darling Youth! like me."
preview | full record— Behn, Aphra (1640?-1689)
Date: 1733
"But if Calista's perfect Soul they knew, / They'd own their Error, and her Praise pursue. / Centred in her the brightest Graces meet, / Treasures of Knowledge and rich Mines of Wit
preview | full record— Masters, Mary (1694-1771)
Date: 1734, 1735
"The Mind, in peaceful Solitude, has Room / To range in Thought, and ramble far from home."
preview | full record— Barber, Mary (c.1685-1755)
Date: 1738
"Thy skill my elemental Clay refin'd, / The straggling Parts in beauteous Order join'd, / With perfect Symmetry compos'd the whole, / And stampt thy sacred Image on my Soul."
preview | full record— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)
Date: 1738
"Whate'er we think on't, Forune's but a Toy, / Which cheats the Soul with empty Shows of Joy; / A mere ideal Creature of the Brain, / That reigns the Idol of the Mad and Vain; / Deludes their Senses with a fair Disguise, / And sets an airy Bliss before their Eyes."
preview | full record— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)