Date: 1719

"There are some secret moving Springs in the Affections, which when they are set a going by some Object in View, or be it some Object, though not in View, yet render'd present to the Mind by the Power of Imagination, that Motion carries out the Soul by its Impetuosity to such violent eager Embrac...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1719

"I was not so much surpriz'd with the Lightning, as I was with a Thought which darted into my Mind as swift as the Lightning it self: O my Powder!"

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1723, 1725

"Reflection was unhing'd; the noble Seat of Memory fill'd with Chimera's and disjointed Notions; wild and confus'd Ideas whirl'd in his distracted Brain; and all the Man, except the Form, was changed."

— Haywood [née Fowler], Eliza (1693?-1756)

Date: 1692, 1724

"I had but just cast my Eyes on the Picture, which was inclos'd, when I found such Motions in my Heart as surpriz'd me, being what I never felt before."

— Aulnoy, Madame d' (Marie-Catherine) (1650/51-1705)

Date: 1724

"'Tis impossible to express the anxious Thoughts that rowl'd about in my Mind, and continually perplex'd me about her."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1725

"You shall not fly, Lorenzo, said Elvira, (whose Heart began to melt) you shall stay and be as happy as I can make you; Elvira shall keep her Promise, and do all you desire, as far as she has power; therefore call back all those wandring Thoughts, and fix them in my Breast for ever."

— Davys, Mary (1674-1732)

Date: 1732

"In a Word, he travers'd the Wilderness dejected with Love, Despair, Expectance, jealous Doubts, till wearied with the Journey of his Mind, more than the Travel of his Body; he rested him in the Alcove, if possible to compose his Humour, which began to be somewhat impatient at the Neglect he conc...

— Boyd, Elizabeth (fl. 1727-1745)

Date: 1732

"During this Time, the Prince, who had order'd the Guard to halt, and whom the Story of Duke Bellfond's Page had made attentive, strictly view'd Amanda, and fancy'd he could in that Lady trace all Florio's Features, whilst the distress'd Fair One, who imagin'd she was the Subject of Amelia's Disc...

— Boyd, Elizabeth (fl. 1727-1745)

Date: 1736

"As she was one day sitting alone in her Garden, ruminating on the last Words of her Father, and the strict Injunction laid on her concerning the Carcanet, Emotions, to which hitherto she had been a Stranger, began to diffuse themselves throughout her Mind."

— Haywood [née Fowler], Eliza (1693?-1756)

Date: 1736

"Being left to her Repose, a thousand sad Ideas ran through her troubled Mind, which at length burst out in these Complainings: Are these, said she, my promised Joys at my Return to Ijaveo, to find my Throne in the Possession of another?"

— Haywood [née Fowler], Eliza (1693?-1756)