Date: 1796

"She was then too young to regret the pleasures of which her profession deprived her: but no sooner did her warm and voluptuous character begin to be developed, than she abandoned herself freely to the impulse of her passions, and seized the first opportunity to procure their gratification."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"He strove to pray: his bosom no longer glowed with devotion: his thoughts insensibly wandered to Matilda's secret charms."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"He related her adventure; and he added, that since that time his ideas having undergone a thorough revolution, he now felt much compassion for the unfortunate nun."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"At that moment an idea which flashed into his mind, almost petrified him with horror."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"She sank into a chair, reclined her head upon her arm, and gazed upon the floor with a vacant stare, while the most gloomy images floated before her fancy."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"Upon this head Matilda re-assured him. She confirmed the arguments which himself had already used: she declared Antonia to have been deceived by the wandering of her brain, by the spleen which oppressed her at the moment, and by the natural turn of her mind to superstition and the marvellous."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"I am now convinced that my reason wandered, and the falsehood of the ghost's prediction is sufficient to prove my error."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"He pronounced the most severe sentences upon offenders, which the moment after compassion induced him to mitigate: he undertook the most daring enterprizes, which the fear of their consequences soon obliged him to abandon: his inborn genius darted a brilliant light upon subjects the most obscure...

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1798

"In a robust and unwavering judgment of this sort, there is a kind of witchcraft; when it decides justly, it produces a responsive vibration in every ingenuous mind."

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: February, 1798

"And what (I said) tho' blasphemy's loud scream / With that sweet music of deliv'rance strove; / Tho' all the fierce and drunken passions wove / A dance more wild than ever maniac's dream; / Ye storms, that round the dawning east assembled, / The sun was rising, tho' ye hid his light!"

— Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1772-1834)