Date: 1776-1789

"But the words of the assassin sunk deep into the mind of Commodus, and left an indelible impression of fear and hatred against the whole body of the senate"

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: 1776-1789

"The wise instructions of Severus never made any lasting impression on the mind of his son, who, although not destitute of imagination and eloquence, was equally devoid of judgment and humanity"

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: 1776-1789

"The dissolute tyranny of Commodus, the civil wars occasioned by his death, and the new maxims of policy introduced by the house of Severus, had all contributed to increase the dangerous power of the army, and to obliterate the faint image of laws and liberty that was still impressed on the minds...

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: 1776-1789

"Every mode of religion, to make a deep and lasting impression on the human mind, must exercise our obedience by enjoining practices of devotion, for which we can assign no reason; and must acquire our esteem, by inculcating moral duties analogous to the dictates of our own hearts"

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: 1776-1789

"Their secret gloom, the imagined residence of an invisible power, by presenting no distinct object of fear or worship, impressed the mind with a still deeper sense of religious horror; and the priests, rude and illiterate as they were, had been taught by experience the use of every artifi...

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: 1774-1776, 1788, 1803

"From a stranger hand / Ah, what can infancy expect, when she / Whose essence was inwove with thine, whose life, / Whose soul thou didst participate, neglects / Herself in thee, and breaks the strongest seal / Which nature stamp'd in vain upon her heart"

— Downman, Hugh (1740-1809)

Date: 1774-1776, 1788, 1803

"Well-skill'd / To form the growing soul, and on its young / And opening bud to fix the impression deep / Of every generous thought"

— Downman, Hugh (1740-1809)

Date: 1776

"Ah, Stanley! I have no hopes of making any impression on her heart, either at Delville, or in Berkeley-square."

— Griffith, Elizabeth (1720-1793)

Date: 1776

"The being a prisoner, was the only species of calamity she had not yet experienced; her mind was impressed with horror at the idea, and whilst her worse than savage landlady, went out to seek a constable, she stole softly out of the house, and fled she knew not whither."

— Griffith, Elizabeth (1720-1793)

Date: 1776

"But remember, my sister--"They never knew to love, that knew to change;" and be assured, that no other woman can ever make the slightest impression upon the heart of your sincerely affectionate brother."

— Griffith, Elizabeth (1720-1793)