Date: w. 1788-93, 1796 (rev. 1815, 1827, 1837, 1897)

"The dissipation of Blandford, and the disputes of Portsmouth, consumed the hours which were not employed in the field; and amid the perpetual hurry of an inn, a barrack, or a guard-room, all literary ideas were banished from my mind."

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: 1796

"A fine country, and diversified views, may soften even the keenest affliction of decided misfortune, and tranquilise the most gloomy sadness into resignation and composure; but suspense rejects the gentle palliative; 'tis an absorbent of the faculties that suffers them to see, hear, and feel onl...

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

Date: 1796

"Her person charmed his eye, but his own imagination framed her mind, and while his enchanted faculties were the mere slaves of her beauty, they persuaded themselves they were vanquished by every other perfection."

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

Date: w. 1788-93, 1796 (rev. 1815, 1827, 1837, 1897)

"But Nature had designed him to think as he pleased, and to speak as he thought: his piety was offended by the excessive worship of creatures; and the study of physics convinced him of the impossibility of transubstantiation, which is abundantly refuted by the testimony of our senses."

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: 1796

"The trial is dangerous; he is just at that period of life when the passions are most vigorous, unbridled, and despotic."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"He closed his eyes, but strove in vain to banish her from his thoughts."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"The woman reigns in my bosom, and I am become a prey to the wildest of passions."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"His ruling passion was hunting, which he had brought himself to consider as a serious occupation; and, when talking over some remarkable chace, he treated the subject with as much gravity as it had been a battle on which the fate of two kingdoms was depending."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"Then banish from your mind the idea of our being ever united."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"Pleasure fled, and Shame usurped her seat in his bosom."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)