Date: 1741 [1740]; continued in 1741

"A Narrative which has its Foundation in TRUTH and NATURE; and at the same time that it agreeably entertains, by a Variety of curious and affecting Incidents, is intirely divested of all those Images, which, in too many Pieces calculated for Amusement only, tend to inflame th...

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)

Date: 1741 [1740]; continued in 1741

Novels and Romances may be "unnaturally inflaming to the Passions, and so full of Love andIntrigue, that hardly any of them but seem'd calculated to fire the Imagination, rather than to inform the Judgment"

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)

Date: 1749

"These were Esteem and Pity; for sure the most outragiously rigid among her Sex will excuse her pitying a Man, whom she saw miserable on her own Account; nor can they blame her for esteeming one who visibly from the most honourable Motives, endeavoured to smother a Flame in his own Bosom, which, ...

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

Date: 1751

"This, and to see a succession of Humble Servants buzzing about a Mother, who took too much pride in addresses of that kind, what a beginning, what an example, to a constitution of tinder, so prepared to receive the spark struck from the steely forehead, and flinty heart, of such a Libertine, as ...

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)

Date: 1752

"Learning, he said, had the same Effect on the Mind, that strong Liquors have on the Constitution; both tending to eradicate all our natural Fire and Energy."

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

Date: 1752

"'O Miss Mathews! we have heard of Men entirely Masters of their Passions, and of Hearts which can carry this Fire in them, and conceal it at their Pleasure."

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

Date: 1752

"Perhaps there may be such; but if there are, those Hearts may be compared, I believe, to Damps, in which it is more difficult to keep Fire alive than to prevent its blazing: In mine, it was placed in the Midst of combustible Matter."

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

Date: 1754

"Souls of tinder, discretions of flimsy gauze, that conceal not their folly--One day they will think as I do; and perhaps before they have daughters who will convince them of the truth of my assertion"

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)

Date: 1796

"Away with friendship! 'tis a cold unfeeling word: my bosom burns with love, with unutterable love, and love must be its return."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"I have not yet forgot the pains / I felt, while bound in Julia's chains: / The ardent flames with which my bosom burned; / The nights I passed deprived of rest; / The jealous pangs which racked my breast; / My disappointed hopes, and passion unreturned."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)