Date: 1653

"Thoughts are for Shadowes plac'd, / By which the lighter Fancies are more graced. / As through a dark, and watry Cloud, more bright, / The Sun breakes forth with his Resplendent Light. / Or like to Night's black Mantle, where each Star / Doth clearer seem, so lighter Fancies are."

— Cavendish, Margaret (1623-1673)

Date: 1688

"This rais'd him to a Storm; and in his Madness, they had much ado to save him from laying violent Hands on himself"

— Behn, Aphra (1640?-1689)

Date: 1688

"Yet this serv'd not altogether to make him cease his different Passions, which sometimes rag'd within him, and sometimes softned into Showers"

— Behn, Aphra (1640?-1689)

Date: 1700

"Haste then, my Friend, to drive / That Cloud of Sorrow which o'recasts her Mind, / And, like the Sun, dispel her gloomy Thoughts."

— Centlivre [née Freeman; other married name Carroll], Susanna (bap. 1669?, d. 1723)

Date: w. 1677, 1702

"Vain wandring Thoughts, that crowd within my Breast / Do oft obstruct my Soul from Solid Rest; / like to vagrant Clouds, obscure the Mind / Which should to serious watching be inclin'd."

— Mollineux [née Southworth], Mary (1651-1695)

Date: 1708

"He came not to London till it was late, that he might the better keep conceal'd for some Days in his own House; which time he spent in endeavouring to calm the Tempest in his Mind."

— Aulnoy, Madame d' (Marie-Catherine) (1650/51-1705)

Date: 1712, 1715, 1719

We "suffer our selves to be blown and toss'd by our Passions, without casting Anchor on the Coast of sound Judgment, or steering to the Harbour of right Reason"

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

Date: 1713

"Now a Dead Sea thou'lt represent, / A Calm of stupid Discontent, / Then, dashing on the Rocks wilt rage into a Storm."

— Finch [née], Anne, Countess of Winchilsea (1666-1720)

Date: 1713

"In the Imperious Wife thou Vapours art, / Which from o'erheated Passions rise / In Clouds to the attractive Brain, / Until descending thence again, / Thro' the o'er-cast, and show'ring Eyes, / Upon her Husband's soften'd Heart, / He the disputed Point must yield, / Something resign of t...

— Finch [née], Anne, Countess of Winchilsea (1666-1720)

Date: 1719-1720, 1725

"'Twould swell this Discourse beyond what I design, to recount her various Starts of Passions, and different Turns of Behaviour, sometimes louder than the Winds, she rav'd! Commanded! Threatned! Then, still as April Showers, or Summer Dews, she wept, and only whisper'd her Complaints, now dissemb...

— Haywood [née Fowler], Eliza (1693?-1756)