Date: 1788

"When Rochely got home, he set about examining the state of his heart exactly as he would have examined the check book of one of his customers."

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1788

"Emmeline was unable to reply; and Miss Galton finding no gratification to her curiosity, which, mingled with envious malignity, had long been her ruling passion, was obliged to quit the unhappy Emmeline; which was indeed the only favour she could do her."

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1788

"Nothing was a stronger proof of the deep root which his passion had taken in his heart, than the influence Emmeline had obtained over his ungovernable and violent spirit, hitherto unused to controul, and accustomed from his infancy to exert over his own family the most boundless despotism."

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1788

"But against this dangerous attack she endeavoured to fortify that sensible heart, by considering the probable event of her yielding to it."

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1788

"The idea which seemed to press most painfully on her mind, was the blemish which the purity of her character must sustain by her being so long absent with Delamere--a blemish which she knew could hardly ever be removed but by her returning as his wife."

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1788

"Cursed be the hour I first indulged it, and cursed the weakness of mind that cannot conquer it!"

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1788

"But you, who feel not any portion of the flame that devours me, can cooly argue, while my heart is torn in pieces; and deign not even to make any allowance for the unguarded sallies of unconquerable passion!"

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1788

"He had studied the characters of the two Miss Delameres, and found that of the eldest the fittest for his purpose; tho' the person of the youngest, and the pride which encased the heart of the other, would have made a less able politician decide for Augusta."

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1788

" If therefore, my love, you really do not disapprove this young man, whose fortune is splendid, and of whose character I have received the most favourable accounts, I shall have a weight removed from my mind, and enjoy all the tranquillity I can hope for on this side the grave."

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1788

"I continued it from habit, and because I knew not how to employ my time otherwise; but I felt a dreary vacuity in my heart; and amid splendor and admiration was unhappy."

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)