Date: 1788

"When the sharp iron wounds his inmost soul, / And his strain'd eyes in burning anguish roll; / Will the parch'd negro find, ere he expire, / No pain in hunger, and no heat in fire?"

— More, Hannah (1745-1833)

Date: 1788

"In Reason's eye, in Wisdom's fair account, / Your sum of glory boasts a like amount; / The means may differ, but the end's the same; / Conquest is pillage with a nobler name."

— More, Hannah (1745-1833)

Date: 1788

"On feeling hearts she [Mercy] sheds celestial dew, / And breathes her spirit o'er th' enlighten'd few; / From soul to soul the spreading influence steals, / Till every breast the soft contagion feels."

— More, Hannah (1745-1833)

Date: 1788, 1803

"Oh! may good angels, kindling in thy breast / The lamp of reason, guard thee from their snares!"

— Downman, Hugh (1740-1809)

Date: 1788

"The storm once past, he gains the friendly ray / Of hope, to guide him through the dang'rous way; / Smiling, she bids each future prospect rise, / Through fancy's vary'd mirror, to his eyes."

— Falconar, Maria (b. 1771-) and Harriet (b. 1774-)

Date: 1788

"Not so the slave; oppress'd with secret care, / He sinks the hapless victim of despair; / Or, doom'd to torments that might even move / The steely heart, and melt it into love; / Till worn with anguish, with'ring in his bloom, / He falls an early tenant of the tomb!"

— Falconar, Maria (b. 1771-) and Harriet (b. 1774-)

Date: 1788

"The hollow winds of Night, no more / In wild, unequal cadence pour / On musing Fancy's wakeful ear, / The groan of agony severe / From yon dark vessel, which contains / The wretch new bound in hopeless chains; / Whose soul with keener anguish bleeds, / As AFRIC's less'ning shore recedes."

— Williams, Helen Maria (1759-1827)

Date: 1788

"'Tis ever Nature's gen'rous view; / Great minds should noble ends pursue; / As the clear sun-beam, when most bright, / Warms, in proportion to its light."

— Williams, Helen Maria (1759-1827)

Date: 1788

"For Virtue, with divine controul, / Collects the various powers of soul; / And lends, from her unsullied source, / The gems of thought their purest force."

— Williams, Helen Maria (1759-1827)

Date: 1788

Slavery "speculates with skill refin'd, / How deep a wound will stab the mind; / How far the spirit can endure / Calamity, that hopes no cure."

— Williams, Helen Maria (1759-1827)