Date: w. 1788-93, 1796 (rev. 1815, 1827, 1837, 1897)

"By many, conversation is esteemed as a theatre or a school: but, after the morning has been occupied by the labours of the library, I wish to unbend rather than to exercise my mind; and in the interval between tea and supper I am far from disdaining the innocent amusement of a game at cards."

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: w. 1788-93, 1796 (rev. 1815, 1827, 1837, 1897)

"While I served in the militia, before and after the publication of my essay, this idea ripened in my mind; nor can I paint in more lively colours the feelings of the moment, than by transcribing some passages, under their respective dates, from a journal which I kept at that time."

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: w. 1788-93, 1796 (rev. 1815, 1827, 1837, 1897)

"But Nature had designed him to think as he pleased, and to speak as he thought: his piety was offended by the excessive worship of creatures; and the study of physics convinced him of the impossibility of transubstantiation, which is abundantly refuted by the testimony of our senses."

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: 1796

"Pervious to every beam, transparent Glass / Gives to the eye, all objects as they pass: / So the clear Soul, when justice claims her due, / Or honour calls,--sets all within, to view."

— Bishop, Samuel (1731-1795)

Date: 1796

"The trial is dangerous; he is just at that period of life when the passions are most vigorous, unbridled, and despotic."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"He thought of his union with Antonia; he thought of the obstacles which might oppose his wishes; and a thousand changing visions floated before his fancy, sad 'tis true, but not unpleasing."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"Who but myself has passed the ordeal of youth, yet sees no single stain upon his conscience?"

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"No longer sustained by the violence of his passions, he feels all the monotony of his way of living, and his heart becomes the prey of ennui and weariness."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"You know not the power of those irresistible, those fatal sentiments to which her heart was a prey."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"I was conscious that there was no longer a void in my heart; that I had found the man whom I had sought till then, in vain."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)