Date: 1582

"So great a Light hath set my mind on fire, / That flesh and bone consume with secret flame"

— Watson, Thomas (1555/6-1592)

Date: Licens'd Decemb. 22. 1691

"I burn and am consumed with hopeless Love; those Beams in whose soft temperate warmth I wanton'd heretofore, now flash destruction to my Soul, my Treacherous greedy Eyes have suck'd the glaring Light, they have united all its Rays, and, like a burning-Glass, Convey'd the pointed Meteor to-my Hea...

— Congreve, William (1670-1729)

Date: 1696

"Odsheart, she longs to see thee, and she is a curious fine Creature, ye Rogue! such Eyes! such Lips!--and such a Tongue between 'em! ah, the Tip of it will set a Mans Soul on fire!"

— Cibber, Colley (1671-1757)

Date: 1696

"No! my very Soul's on fire, and nothing but the Villain's blood shall quench it."

— Cibber, Colley (1671-1757)

Date: 1696

"Hark! how the Warlike Notes inspire / In ev'ry Breast a glowing Fire."

— Cibber, Colley (1671-1757)

Date: 1696

"Long since alas! the airy Vision's fled, / And I with wandring Flames my Passion feed."

— Cibber, Colley (1671-1757)

Date: 1719-1720, 1725

"Be Witness for me Heaven! how much I have struggled with this rising passion, even to Madness struggled!--but in vain; the mounting Flame blazes the more, the more I would suppress it--my very Soul's on fire."

— Haywood [née Fowler], Eliza (1693?-1756)

Date: 1719-1720, 1725

"How I cou'd despise thee for this Narrowness of Mind, were there not something in thy Eyes and Mien which assure me, that this negligent Behaviour is but affected; and that there are within thy Breast, some Seeds of hidden Fire, which want but the Influence of Charms, more potent perhaps than yo...

— Haywood [née Fowler], Eliza (1693?-1756)

Date: 1725

"From that she pass'd to a Description of the Happiness of mutual Affection; -- the unspeakable Extasy of those who meet with equal Ardency; and represented it in Colours so lively, and disclos'd by the Gestures with which her Words were accompany'd, and the Accent of her Voice so true a Feeling ...

— Haywood [née Fowler], Eliza (1693?-1756)

Date: 1726, 1753

"As fire, by nature, climbs direct, and bright, / And beams, in spotless rays, a shining light; / But if some gross obstruction stops its way, / Smokes in low curls, and scents the sullied day: / So love, itself, untainted, and refin'd, / Borrows a tincture, from the colour'd mind."

— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)