Date: 1781

"Pardon me, madam, his heart was not only free from that lady's chains, but absolutely captivated by another."

— Cowley [née Parkhouse], Hannah (1743-1809)

Date: 1713, 1719

"This Fancy having once taken Root, grew apace, and branch'd it self forth into a thousand vain Conceits."

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

Date: 1713, 1719

"Thus my Thoughts play'd at Racket, and seldom minded the Line of Reason"

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

Date: 1713, 1719

"[M]y Mind labour'd under a perpetual shaking Palsy of Hope and Fear; my whole Interiour was nothing but Distraction and Uncertainty"

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

Date: 1713, 1719

"Thus I ran Divisions in my Fancy, which made but harsh Musick to my Interiour"

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

Date: 1713, 1719

"It is this reserv'd Mein, Madam, which has often deter'd me, and commanded my Tongue to a respectful Silence; whilst my poor Heart, overcharg'd with Passion, only eas'd it self with Sighs, and my Looks were the only Language whereby to express my interior Thoughts"

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

Date: 1713, 1719

"For in our Youth we commonly dress our Thoughts in the Mirrour of Self-Flattery, and expect that Heaven, Fortune, and the World, should cajole our Follies, as we do our own, and lay all Faults on others, and all Praise on our selves."

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

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)

Date: 1719-1720, 1725

"Ill Genius, or that Devil, Curiosity, ... too much haunts the Minds of Women"

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

Date: 1719-1720, 1725

"But when he consider'd how much he had struggled, and how far he had been from being able to repel Desire, he began to wonder that it cou'd ever enter into his Thoughts, that there was even a Possibility for Woman, so much stronger in her Fancy, and weaker in her Judgment, to suppress the Influe...

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