Date: 1778, 1779

"As soon would I discuss the effect of sound with the deaf, or the nature of colours with the blind, as aim at illuminating with conviction a mind so warped by prejudice, so much the slave of unruly and illiberal passions."

— Burney [married name D'Arblay], Frances (1752-1840)

Date: 1778, 1779

"I can write no more. The small share of serenity I have painfully acquired, will not bear the shock of the dreadful ideas that crowd upon me."

— Burney [married name D'Arblay], Frances (1752-1840)

Date: 1778, 1779

"I yield, therefore, to the necessity which compels my reluctant acquiescence, and shall now turn all my thoughts upon considering of such methods for the conducting this enterprize, as may be most conducive to the happiness of my child, and least liable to wound her sensibility."

— Burney [married name D'Arblay], Frances (1752-1840)

Date: 1778, 1779

"For, though Courage is one of the noblest virtues of this nether sphere, and though scarcely more requisite in the field of battle, to guard the fighting hero from disgrace, than in the private commerce of the world, to ward off that littleness of soul which leads by steps imperceptible, to all ...

— Burney [married name D'Arblay], Frances (1752-1840)

Date: 1778, 1779

"Let me, therefore, prepare for disappointment those who, in the perusal of these sheets, entertain the gentle expectation of being transported to the fantastic regions of Romance, where Fiction is coloured by all the gay tints of luxurious Imagination, where Reason is an outcast, and where the s...

— Burney [married name D'Arblay], Frances (1752-1840)

Date: 1778, 1779

"Indeed, I could but ill support her former yearly visits to the respectable mansion at Howard Grove; pardon me, dear Madam, and do not think me insensible of the honour which your Ladyship's condescension confers upon us both; but so deep is the impression which the misfortunes of her mother hav...

— Burney [married name D'Arblay], Frances (1752-1840)

Date: 1778, 1779

"Your impatience to fly to a place which your imagination has painted to you in colours so attractive, surprizes me not; I have only to hope that the liveliness of your fancy may not deceive you: to refuse, would be to raise it still higher."

— Burney [married name D'Arblay], Frances (1752-1840)

Date: 1778, 1779

"A confused idea now for the first time entered my head, something I had heard of the rules of assemblies; but I was never at one before,--I have only danced at school,--and so giddy and heedless I was, that I had not once considered the impropriety of refusing one partner, and afterwards accepti...

— Burney [married name D'Arblay], Frances (1752-1840)

Date: 1778, 1779

"I was thunderstruck at the recollection: but, while these thoughts were rushing into my head, Lord Orville, with some warmth, said, 'This lady, Sir, is incapable of meriting such an accusation!'"

— Burney [married name D'Arblay], Frances (1752-1840)

Date: 1778, 1779

"Some of the songs seemed to melt my very soul."

— Burney [married name D'Arblay], Frances (1752-1840)