Date: 1774

"When they come to be a little better acquainted with themselves, and with their own species, they discover that plain right reason is, nine times in ten, the fettered and shackled attendant of the triumph of the heart and the passions; and, consequently, they address themselves nine times in ten...

— Stanhope, Philip Dormer, fourth earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773)

Date: 1774

"I will show your letter to Duval, by way of justification for not answering his challenge; and I think he must allow the validity of it; for a frozen brain is as unfit to answer a challenge in poetry, as a blunt sword is for a single combat."

— Stanhope, Philip Dormer, fourth earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773)

Date: 1785, 1838

"Hapless the lad whose mind such dreams [of scribbling] invade, / And win to verse the talents due to trade."

— Crabbe, George (1754-1832)

Date: 1786

"From that awful period, almost every expectation is forlorn: the heart is left unguarded: its great protector is no more: the vices therefore, which so long encompassed it in vain, obtain an easy victory: in crouds they pour into the defenceless avenues, and take possession of the soul: there is...

— Clarkson, Thomas (1760–1846)

Date: 1790

"But let me not thus pond'ring, gaping, stand-- / But, lo, I am not at my own command: / Bed, bosom, kiss, embraces, storm my brains, / And, lawless tyrants, bind my will in chains."

— Wolcot, John, pseud. Peter Pindar, (1738-1819)

Date: 1790

"The passions join the fierce invading host; / And I and virtue are o'erwhelm'd and lost-- / Passions that in a martingale should move; / Wild horses loosen'd by the hands of Love."

— Wolcot, John, pseud. Peter Pindar, (1738-1819)

Date: 1790

"With a soldier's care / He plan'd the conquest of Ophelia's heart/ and won it"

— Hurdis, James (1763-1801)

Date: 1790

One may have two souls "which, like two mighty Kings, / 'Ever contending for the sov'reignty, / 'Stir up sedition and revolt within"

— Hurdis, James (1763-1801)

Date: 1790

"[M]y conquer'd heart / 'Has nothing noble or aspiring in it"

— Hurdis, James (1763-1801)

Date: 1810

"Our heroine fear'd him not; it was her part, / To make sure conquest of such gentle heart"

— Crabbe, George (1754-1832)