Date: 1705

"All the World knows it is an Heroick Action not to be transported by our Passions; and tho' they may chance to assault our Wills, yet that Judgment that governs 'em will make us relish our Reasons"

— Manley, Delarivier (c. 1670-1724)

Date: 1705

"This Virtue is a Gift of Piety, a Sweetness of Spirit; for Clemency is of an Heroick Essence; and the Defection of that Active and Unbridled Passion, which oppugns it, and seems to check it, is the most Wonderful Effect, that they who exercise this Virtue, are able to produce, and the Victory go...

— Manley, Delarivier (c. 1670-1724)

Date: 1705

"Guilt is never without a Character, we may Read it in the Criminals Faces; it will appear in their very Eyes, and express that the Contempt of Virtue hath caused an Insurrection of the Passions."

— Manley, Delarivier (c. 1670-1724)

Date: 1705

"At last, being assaulted by Turns, on the one Side by Reason, and the other by Interest and Passion, she got up early in the Morning, without having been able to take any other Resolution, than to yield her self up, if possible, to be govern'd by Volpone, and be for the future meerly Passive in ...

— Manley, Delarivier (c. 1670-1724)

Date: 1709

"[W]ould not one believe her Charms are sufficient to conquer a thousand Hearts?"

— Manley, Delarivier (c. 1670-1724)

Date: 1709

"That fatal Night the Duke felt hostile Fires in his Breast, Love was entred with all his dreadful Artillery; he took possession in a moment of the Avenues that lead to the Heart! neither did the resistance he found there serve for any thing but to make his Conquest more illustrious."

— Manley, Delarivier (c. 1670-1724)

Date: 1710

Charms may be sufficient of themselves to gain a Conquest over any Heart that is not already ingaged

— Manley, Delarivier (c. 1670-1724)

Date: 1710

A bishop may indulge "amorous Vein" and make "as many Conquests over the Bodies of the fair Sex, as of their Souls"

— Manley, Delarivier (c. 1670-1724)

Date: 1719-1720, 1725

"I can no longer withstand the too powerful Magick of your Eyes, nor deny any Thing that charming Tongue can ask; but now's the Time to prove your self a Heroe! subdue your self, as you have conquer'd me! be satisfied with vanquishing my Soul, fix there your Throne, but leave my Honour free!"

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

Date: 1719-1720, 1725

"Oh, Melliora! didst thou but know the thousandth Part of what this Moment I endure, the strong Convulsions of my warring Thoughts, thy Heart, steel'd as it is, and frosted round with Virtue, wou'd burst its icy Shield, and melt in Tears of Blood, to pity me."

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