Date: 1777

"Lord Melvile had courage to persevere in advancing, though Dorignon's idea perpetually obtruded itself on his imagination; the charms of her form indeed were not such as justified his infatuation; she was, in respect to personal attractions, much below mediocrity; but her sprightly sallies, her ...

— Brooke [née Moore], Frances (bap. 1724, d. 1789)

Date: 1777

"His heart, for a moment, revolted at the idea of seduction; but he soon silenced the unwelcome monitor."

— Brooke [née Moore], Frances (bap. 1724, d. 1789)

Date: 1777

"He was born with better feelings; he was naturally humane, tender, compassionate but he had, unfortunately for himself, been educated by a father, who, as we have already observed, had taken the most unwearied pains to eradicate from his expanding mind those social affections which the Deity has...

— Brooke [née Moore], Frances (bap. 1724, d. 1789)

Date: 1778, 1779

"I was totally spiritless and dejected; the idea of the approaching meeting,--and oh Sir, the idea of the approaching parting,--gave a heaviness to my heart, that I could neither conquer nor repress."

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

Date: 1778, 1779

If "I may now judge of the time to come, by the present state of my mind, the calm will be succeeded by a storm, of which I dread the violence"

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

Date: 1778, 1779

"I cannot write the scene that followed, though every word is engraven on my heart."

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

Date: 1778, 1779

"Yes, my child, thy happiness is engraved, in golden characters, upon the tablets of my heart! and their impression is indelible; for, should the rude and deep-searching hand of Misfortune attempt to pluck them from their repository, the fleeting fabric of life would give way, and in tearing from...

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

Date: 1778, 1779

"As soon would I discuss the effect of sound with the deaf, or the nature of colours with the blind, as aim at illuminating with conviction a mind so warped by prejudice, so much the slave of unruly and illiberal passions."

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

Date: 1778, 1779

"I can write no more. The small share of serenity I have painfully acquired, will not bear the shock of the dreadful ideas that crowd upon me."

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

Date: 1778, 1779

"I yield, therefore, to the necessity which compels my reluctant acquiescence, and shall now turn all my thoughts upon considering of such methods for the conducting this enterprize, as may be most conducive to the happiness of my child, and least liable to wound her sensibility."

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