Date: First performed August 4, 1787

"Ill founded precept too long has steel'd my breast--but still 'tis vulnerable-- this trial was too muc"

— Colman, George, the younger (1762-1836)

Date: 1788

"Worlds would I give now for that sketch of my Quintin, that my cruel brother deprived me of; but his dear image is engraven on my heart"

— O'Keeffe, John (1747-1833)

Date: 1788

"[A guardian] claps a pen in my hand, and ties me like a seal to his ugly parchment, while my heart can receive no impression, but the idea of my beloved Aircourt"

— O'Keeffe, John (1747-1833)

Date: 1788

"True love purifies the soul from every base alloy."

— Cobb, James (1756-1818)

Date: 1788

"O yes, this is his valet that Lady Jane mentioned, this is her O'Donovan and my Aircourt, but my heart is steel'd against him"

— O'Keeffe, John (1747-1833)

Date: 1788

"Fear is a stranger to my soul."

— Cobb, James (1756-1818)

Date: 1788

"Within the heart which love illumes, / And blesses with his sacred rays, / If meaner passion e'er presumes, / It fades before the hallow'd blaze."

— Cobb, James (1756-1818)

Date: 1788

Lovers are governed by Cupid and must obey the "laws of a monarch, whose throne is the heart"

— Cobb, James (1756-1818)

Date: 1788

"I own that my heart yields like wax to the impression of the little god"

— Cobb, James (1756-1818)

Date: 1788

A heart of wax may be "soon hot and soon cold, and yields to a different impression every day"

— Cobb, James (1756-1818)