Date: 1755

"THE SHOCK OF RECEIVING MY OWN LETTER did not excite a sudden Gust of unwarrantable Passion, but prey'd upon my Heart with the slow and eating Fire of Distraction and Despair, 'till it ended in a Fever, which now remains upon my Spirits; and which, I fear, I shall find a difficult Task to overcome."

— Charke [née Cibber; other married name Sacheverell], Charlotte [alias Mr Brown] (1713-1760)

Date: 1758

"Within MYSELF does Virtue dwell? / Is all serene and beauteous there? / What mean these chilling damps of fear? "

— Mulso [later Chapone], Hester (1727-1801)

Date: 1758

"As you would not wish to sail in a large, and finely decorated, and gilded Ship, and sink: so neither is it eligible to inhabit a grand and sumptuous House, and be in a Storm [of Passions and Cares]."

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: 1762

"One only hope remains, that you, my first and dearest friend, will not abandon me; that whatever cloud of melancholy may hang over my mind, yet you will still bear with me, and remove your abode to a place where I may have the consolation of your company."

— Scott [née Robinson], Sarah (1720-1795)

Date: 1762

"Till then the hope, by Damon's vows betray'd, / And wand'ring long on Passion's stormy seas, / By his unerring guidance safely led, / Shall fix her anchor on the rock of Peace."

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: 1762

"Pure from th' eternal Source of Being came / That Ray divine that lights the human Frame: / Yet oft, forgetful of it's heavenly Birth, / It sinks obscur'd beneath the Weight of the Earth: / Mechanic Pow'rs retard it's Flight, and hence / The Storms of Passion, and the Clouds of Sense: / 'Tis Lif...

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: 1763

"The once smiling scene has a melancholy gloom, which strikes a damp through my inmost soul."

— Brooke [née Moore], Frances (bap. 1724, d. 1789)

Date: 1765

"She vile, she artful! thou art a monster but to think it. Her mind and person are as pure as mountain-snow, which the sun's beams have never glanced upon."

— Griffith, Elizabeth (1720-1793)

Date: 1767

"How transitory have been all my pleasures! the recollection of them dies on my memory, like the departing colours of the rainbow, which fades under the eye of the beholder, and leaves not a trace behind."

— Sheridan [née Chamberlaine], Frances (1724-1766)

Date: 1773

"Not all the storms that shake the pole / Can e'er disturb thy halcyon soul, / And smooth unaltered brow."

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