Date: 1777

"At present in my brain there floats / A thousand parti-colored motes; / From which, if time would but permit, / I might sift some sparks of wit."

— Savage, Mary (fl. 1763-1777)

Date: 1778

The "pure flame" of virtue is planted "by an unerring rule" and glows in the heart

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

Date: 1778

"Still our joys are not complete, / Doubts and fears our minds invading / Till your gentle smiles we meet"

— Robinson [Née Darby], Mary [Perdita] (1758-1800)

Date: 1778

"And if, O love, thy potent dart / Should reach the sleeping shepherd's heart, / O! be to him a gentler guest, / And pierce, with lighter shaft, his breast."

— Robinson [Née Darby], Mary [Perdita] (1758-1800)

Date: 1778, 1779

"I was totally spiritless and dejected; the idea of the approaching meeting,--and oh Sir, the idea of the approaching parting,--gave a heaviness to my heart, that I could neither conquer nor repress."

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

Date: 1778, 1779

If "I may now judge of the time to come, by the present state of my mind, the calm will be succeeded by a storm, of which I dread the violence"

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

Date: 1778, 1779

"I cannot write the scene that followed, though every word is engraven on my heart."

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

Date: 1778, 1779

"Yes, my child, thy happiness is engraved, in golden characters, upon the tablets of my heart! and their impression is indelible; for, should the rude and deep-searching hand of Misfortune attempt to pluck them from their repository, the fleeting fabric of life would give way, and in tearing from...

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

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)