Date: w. 1755, 1777

"But admitting a spiritual substance to be dispersed throughout the universe, like the ethereal fire of the Stoics, and to be the only inherent subject of thought, we have reason to conclude from analogy, that nature uses it after the same manner she does the other substance, matter."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1777

"At present in my brain there floats / A thousand parti-colored motes; / From which, if time would but permit, / I might sift some sparks of wit."

— Savage, Mary (fl. 1763-1777)

Date: 1778

The "pure flame" of virtue is planted "by an unerring rule" and glows in the heart

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

Date: 1778, 1779

"'Leave me, Madam,' cried he, with quickness, "and take care of the poor child;--bid her not think me unkind,--tell her I would at this moment plunge a dagger in my heart to serve her,--but she has set my brain on fire, and I can see her no more!'"

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

Date: 1779

"Ambition! thou whose hallow'd flame can live / Only in minds refin'd from the gross elements / Of which the herd of human kind are made!"

— Cowley [née Parkhouse], Hannah (1743-1809)

Date: 1779

"If one spark of virtue / Yet hovers in his mind--Oh, grant me, Heaven! / To kindle it afresh, and be the flame immortal!"

— Cowley [née Parkhouse], Hannah (1743-1809)

Date: 1780

"Inspir'd thus by the Priest's heroic charge, / seem'd to press to be the earliest victim; / Their souls on fire, were eager to depart / The earthly sphere, and seise on their immortal crowns."

— Cowley [née Parkhouse], Hannah (1743-1809)

Date: 1780

"Oh, spare me then the horror of a sight / My fiery brain splits but to think on!"

— Cowley [née Parkhouse], Hannah (1743-1809)

Date: 1780

"The heart which burns and wastes with hopeless ardors!"

— Cowley [née Parkhouse], Hannah (1743-1809)

Date: 1777, 1780

"The notice and observation of strangers, and the affection of individuals, together with that inward consciousness that always attends superiour qualities, would sometimes kindle the flames of ambition in Edmund's heart; but he checked them presently by reflecting upon his low birth and dependan...

— Reeve, Clara (1729-1807)