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

"The action of the pen will doubtless imprint an idea on the mind as well as on the paper: but I much question whether the benefits of this laborious method are adequate to the waste of time; and I must agree with Dr. Johnson, (Idler, No. 74.) 'that what is twice read, is commonly better remember...

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: 1796

"Edgar, touched by a comparison to the person he most honoured, gratefully looked his acknowledgment; and all displeasure at her flight, even from Thomson's scene of conjugal felicity, was erased from his mind."

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

Date: 1796

"I then--alas, too late! dived deeper, with, then, useless investigation,--and discovered an early passion, never erased from her mind;--discovered--that I had never made her happy! that she was merely enduring, suffering me--while my whole confiding soul was undividedly hers!"

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

Date: 1797

"Their [young persons'] minds are like a sheet of white paper, which takes any impression that it is proposed to make upon it."

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)