Date: 1787

"Fat flattens the most brilliant thoughts, / Like the buff-stop on harpsichords, or spinets-- / Muffling their pretty little tuneful throats, / That would have chirp'd away like linnets."

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

Date: 1788

"What glittering adders lurk to sting the mind!"

— Richardson, Joseph (1755-1803)

Date: 1788

"Not that unlicens'd monster of the crowd, / Whose roar terrific bursts in peals so loud, / Deaf'ning the ear of Peace: fierce Faction's tool; / Of rash Sedition born, and mad Misrule; / Whose stubborn mouth, rejecting Reason's rein, / No strength can govern, and no skill restrain."

— More, Hannah (1745-1833)

Date: 1788

"Unconscious therefore of the anguish which preyed upon the heart of her unhappy lover, Emmeline gave her whole attention to Lady Adelina, and she saw with infinite concern the encreasing weakness of her frame; with still greater pain she observed, that by suffering her mind to dwell continually ...

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1788

"Pensive, yet always kind; melancholy, and at times visibly unhappy; yet ever gentle, considerate, and attentive to me; always ready to blame himself for yielding to that despondence which he cannot without an effort conquer; trying to alleviate the anguish of my mind by subduing that which frequ...

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1788

"Should he suspect that Godolphin was his rival, and a rival fondly favoured, she knew that his pride, his jealousy, his resentment, would hurry him into excesses more dreadful than any that had yet followed his impetuous love or his unbridled passions."

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1788

"Thou, who, for noble faults like these, too cold, / Whose vices n'er aspire, but stoop to gold, / That groveling passion of the sordid breast, / Like Aaron's serpent swallowing up the rest."

— Pratt, Samuel Jackson [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749-1814)

Date: 1788

"Who for such perishable gaudes would put / A yoke upon his free unbroken spirit, / And gall himself with trammels and the rubs / Of this world's business; so he might stand clear / Of judgment and the tax of idleness / In that dread audit, when his mortal hours / (Which now with soft and silent ...

— Crowe, William (1745-1829)

Date: 1788

"While, seeking pleasures, and avoiding pains, / Will whips, or curbs, as reason holds the reins."

— Woodhouse, James (bap. 1735, d. 1820)

Date: 1789

"'Tis [the letter of the law] the birdlime of reason to fasten our senses."

— Williams, John [pseud. Anthony Pasquin] (1754-1818)