Date: 1696

"'Twas not with ease the Usurper got Possession here (went she on; pointing to her Heart) nor will he be with ease dislodg'd. All the Sighs and Tears it cost Emilius to gain this Virgin Heart, to bind it in the Inchanting Chains of Tyrannick Love; I must, with Interest, pay back, e'er I can set t...

— Pix, Mary (c.1666-1720)

Date: 1705

"All the World knows it is an Heroick Action not to be transported by our Passions; and tho' they may chance to assault our Wills, yet that Judgment that governs 'em will make us relish our Reasons"

— Manley, Delarivier (c. 1670-1724)

Date: 1705

"Guilt is never without a Character, we may Read it in the Criminals Faces; it will appear in their very Eyes, and express that the Contempt of Virtue hath caused an Insurrection of the Passions."

— Manley, Delarivier (c. 1670-1724)

Date: 1705

"At last, being assaulted by Turns, on the one Side by Reason, and the other by Interest and Passion, she got up early in the Morning, without having been able to take any other Resolution, than to yield her self up, if possible, to be govern'd by Volpone, and be for the future meerly Passive in ...

— Manley, Delarivier (c. 1670-1724)

Date: 1719

"I thought he was not a Monarch only, but a great Conqueror; for that he that has got a Victory over his own exorbitant Desires, and has the absolute Dominion over himself, whose Reason entirely governs his Will, is certainly greater than he that conquers a City"

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1719-1720, 1725

"I can no longer withstand the too powerful Magick of your Eyes, nor deny any Thing that charming Tongue can ask; but now's the Time to prove your self a Heroe! subdue your self, as you have conquer'd me! be satisfied with vanquishing my Soul, fix there your Throne, but leave my Honour free!"

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

Date: 1723, 1725

"Beauclair was more gallant; and believing that if ever he desir'd any greater Testimonies of the Conquest he had made of her Heart, than what her Eyes declar'd, now was the Time to obtain them."

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

Date: 1722, 1723

"For Jesus sake, remove not my Distress, / Till free Triumphant Grace shall Reposess / The Vacant Throne; from whence my Sins Depart, / And make a willing Captive of my Heart."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1726

"[I]n vain I strove to conquer a Passion that had mingled with my Soul, and reigned in every Vein"

— Aubin, Penelope (1679?-1731?)

Date: 1743

It may cost one "more struggling than may easily be believed, utterly to conquer his Reluctance, and to banish away every Degree of Humanity from his Mind"

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)