Date: 1793

"If the mind is a barren waste, of what avail are the beauties of the most lovely face, the elegance of the most enchanting shape, the grace of the most accomplished person; the imperceptible hand of time will deprive them of every external charm, and eclipse the lustre of the most penetrating eye."

— Anonymous [By an American Lady]

Date: 1793

"But, most of all, [the mind is subject] to that lov'd voice, whose thrill, / Rushing impetuous through each throbbing vein, / Dilates the wond'ring mind, and frees its pow'rs / From the cold chains of icy apathy / To all the vast extremes of bliss and pain!"

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

Date: 1793

"Of all bondage, mental bondage is surely the most fatal; the absurd despotism which has hitherto, with more than gothic barbarity, enslaved the female mind, the enervating and degrading system of manners by which the understandings of women have been chained down to frivolity and trifles, have i...

— Hays, Mary (1760-1843)

Date: 1793

"I am not ashamed to acknowledge that I have perused the productions of some of our female pens, with the highest satisfaction; and am happy when I find any woman has so large a fund of amusement in her own mind."

— Rowson, Susanna (1762-1828)

Date: w. 1776, 1793

"His pocket and his skull are brothers, / They thrive by borrowing from others; / I thank my stars, with heart sincere, / I was not born to be a Peer."

— Burrell [née Raymond, later Clay], Sophia, Lady Burrell (1750-1802)

Date: 1793

"In fancy's mirror dreadful scenes appear, / Design'd by doubt, and magnified by fear, / There some gay female, frivolous and vain, / Artfully forms the captivating chain; / Makes him the slave of passion and caprice, / Perverts his principles, and wounds his peace."

— Burrell [née Raymond, later Clay], Sophia, Lady Burrell (1750-1802)

Date: 1794

"No--long they lived great nature to explore, / Their minds enriching with poetic store."

— Pointon, Priscilla [AKA Priscilla Pickering] (c. 1740-1801)

Date: 1794

Busy thought may paint "a thousand horrors"

— Cave [later Winscom], Jane (c.1754-1813)

Date: 1794

"As her imagination painted with melancholy touches, the deserted plains of Troy, such as they appeared in this after-day, she reanimated the landscape with the following little story."

— Radcliffe [née Ward], Ann (1764-1823)

Date: 1794

"While Plato explains the allegory [of Minerva and Diomed] into no more than this: How Wisdom or Reason should in like manner so dispel the mists of the mind, that it may be at liberty to discern, examine, and contemplate what is good and what is evil."

— Piozzi, [née Salusbury; other married name Thrale] Hester Lynch (1741-1821)