Date: 1793

"Marville says, that the famous orators in the pulpit and at the bar, of his time, used to read the finest passages of the poets, to germinate those seeds of eloquence which nature had scattered in their souls."

— Disraeli, Isaac (1766-1848)

Date: 1794

"But, though misfortune had somewhat conquered the asperities of Madame Montoni's temper, and, by increasing her cares for herself, had taught her to feel in some degree for others, the capricious love of rule, which nature had planted and habit had nourished in her heart, was not subdued."

— Radcliffe [née Ward], Ann (1764-1823)

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

"Her indulgent tenderness, the frankness of her temper, and my innate rising curiosity, soon removed all distance between us: like friends of an equal age, we freely conversed on every topic, familiar or abstruse; and it was her delight and reward to observe the first shoots of my young ideas."

— 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: 1796, 1806

"Ambition!--not that emulative zeal Which wings the tow'ring souls of godlike men! / But bold, oppressive, self-created pow'r, / That, trampling o'er the barrier of the laws, / And scattering wide the tender shoots of pity, / Strikes at the root of reason, and confines / Nature itself in bondage!"

— Robinson [Née Darby], Mary [Perdita] (1758-1800)

Date: 1796

"Her mind was a soil which received and naturalized all that was sown in it."

— Burney [married name D'Arblay], Frances (1752-1840)

Date: 1796

"Gaiety was so truly the native growth of the mind of Camilla, that neither care nor affliction could chace it long from its home."

— Burney [married name D'Arblay], Frances (1752-1840)

Date: 1796

"The second was still too young to benefit by my instructions; but in the heart of my eldest I laboured unceasingly to plant those principles which might enable him to avoid the crimes of his parents."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"I suffered not my grief at this circumstance to take root in my mind."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"Extreme simplicity prevented her from perceiving the aim to which the monk's insinuations tended; but the excellent morals which she owed to Elvira's care, the solidity and correctness of her understanding, and a strong sense of what was right, implanted in her heart by nature, made her feel tha...

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)