Date: 1767

"A holy ardor was kindled in his breast, which he had never felt before; he found his faculties enlarged, his mind was transported above this world; he felt as it were unimbodied, and an involuntary adjuration burst from his lips."

— Sheridan [née Chamberlaine], Frances (1724-1766)

Date: 1767

"I was now resolved to be myself an eye-witness of thy behaviour, and to try if there was any spark of virtue remaining in thy soul which could possibly be rekindled."

— Sheridan [née Chamberlaine], Frances (1724-1766)

Date: 1768

"In saying this, I was making not so much La Fleur's eloge, as my own, having been in love with one princess or another almost all my life, and I hope I shall go on so, till I die, being firmly persuaded, that if ever I do a mean action, it must be in some interval betwixt one passion and another...

— Sterne, Laurence (1713-1768)

Date: 1768

"The fire caught--and the whole city, like the heart of one man, open'd itself to Love."

— Sterne, Laurence (1713-1768)

Date: September 30, 1769?

"To nature and the passions dead, / A brothel is his house and bed; / To fan the flame of warm desire, / And after wanton in the fire, / He thinks a labour; and his parts / Were not designed to conquer hearts."

— Chatterton, Thomas (1752-1770)

Date: 1769

"The first reverend sage who delivered himself on this mysterious subject, having stroked his grey beard, and hemmed thrice with great solemnity, declared that the soul was an animal; a second pronounced it to be the number three, or proportion; a third contended for the number seven, or harmony;...

— Smollett, Tobias (1721-1777)

Date: 1770

While emulation in each bosom glow'd; / Thou didst, in strains of eloquence refin'd, / Inflame the soul, and captivate the mind.

— Wheatley, Phillis (c.1753–1784)

Date: 1770

"The captious turn of an habitual wrangler deadens the understanding, sours the temper, and hardens the heart: by rendering the mind suspicious, and attentive to trifles, it weakens the sagacity of instinct, and extinguishes the fire of imagination; it transforms conversation into, a state of war...

— Beattie, James (1735-1803)

Date: 1771, 1776

"Pursue, poor imp, th' imaginary charm, / Indulge gay Hope, and Fancy's pleasing fire: / Fancy and Hope too soon shall of themselves expire."

— Beattie, James (1735-1803)

Date: 1771, 1776

"To the pure soul by Fancy's fire refined, / Ah what is mirth but turbulence unholy, / When with the charm compared of heavenly melancholy!"

— Beattie, James (1735-1803)