Date: 1688

"But Love, who had hitherto but play'd with her Heart, and given it naught but pleasing, wanton Wounds, such as afforded only soft Joys, and not Pains, resolv'd, either out of Revenge to those Numbers she had abandon'd, and who had sigh'd so long in vain; or to try what power he had upon so fickl...

— Behn, Aphra (1640?-1689)

Date: 1727

"It is without Doubt, that Fancy and Imagination form a world of Apparitions in the Minds of Men and Women; (for we must not exclude the Ladies in this Part, whatever we do) and People go away as thoroughly possess'd with the Reality of having seen the Devil, as if they convers'd Face to Face wit...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1741-2

"When no malignant fever fires the brain, / And health luxuriant revels in each vein, / Tho' sunk in sloth, from all diseases free, / In dropsies, you will run to Reeve or Lee."

— Gilbert, Thomas (bap. 1713, d. 1766)

Date: 1744, 1772, 1795

"Else wherefore burns / In mortal bosoms this unquenched hope, / That breathes from day to day sublimer things, / And mocks possession?"

— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)

Date: 1751

"Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid / Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire."

— Gray, Thomas (1716-1771)

Date: 1755

Affections may seem benumbed or may take take fire

— Hooker [from Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language]

Date: 1755

"However, I must beg Leave to inform those Ladies and Gentlemen, whose Tenderness and Compassion may excite 'em to make this little Brat of my Brain the Companion of an idle Hour, that I have paid all due Regard to Decency wherever I have introduc'd the Passion of Love; and have only suffer'd it ...

— Charke [née Cibber; other married name Sacheverell], Charlotte [alias Mr Brown] (1713-1760)

Date: 1756, 1793

"My heart is pregnant, and my soul on fire"

— Blacklock, Thomas (1721-1791)

Date: 1773

The soul contains "An embryo of God, a spark of fire divine / Which must burn on for ages."

— Barbauld, Anna Letitia [née Aikin] (1743-1825)