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

"Camilla dissented not from the opinion; but the doctrine to which it was easy to agree, it was difficult to put in practice; and her ardent mind believed itself fettered for ever, and for ever unhappy."

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

Date: 1796

"Should he now, then, make her deem him exacting, and tenacious of prerogative? no; it might shackle the freedom of her mind in their future intercourse."

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

Date: 1796

"The speeches of the unsuspicious Eugenia, that a moment before would have past unheeded, now regaled her renovated fancy with a thousand amusing images, which so vigorously struggled against her sadness and her terrors, that they were soon nearly driven from the field by their sportive assailant...

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

Date: January 13, 1796

"Forbear! there is a spirit within me, sunk tho' I am in misery and despair, that will not suffer you, tho' now a conqueror in your turn, and towering far above the wretched son of Hastings, to take this base advantage of your fortune, and drag a trembling victim to the altar only to riot in the ...

— Cumberland, Richard (1732-1811)

Date: 1797

"Fear thee, O Death!--Or hug the chains that bind / To joyless, cheerless life, her sick, reluctant mind?"

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1797

"Thus man, the giant who now held her in captivity, would shrink to the diminutiveness of a fairy; and she would experience, that his utmost force was unable to enchain her soul, or compel her to fear him, while he was destitute of virtue."

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

Date: 1798

"My mother I have never seen--never by affection's ties has she chained my soul to her's!"

— Plumptre, Anne (1760-1818); Kotzebue (1761-1819)

Date: 1798

"Up, break thy fetters! Burst thy prison! My soul is free! My essence knows no chains."

— Render, William (fl. 1790-1801); August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue (1761-1819)