Date: 1754

"How often has that tender bosom, whose glory it would have been to melt at another's woe, and to rejoice in acts of kindness and benevolence to her fellow-creatures, been armed by herself (not the mistress, but the slave, of her passions) not with defensive, but offensive, steel!"

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

Date: 1754

The "grim natives" of East-Brent were of "reason wholly void, whom instinct rules"

— Bowden, Samuel (fl. 1733-1761)

Date: 1754

Reason may rule the mind and keep her God-like seat

— Bowden, Samuel (fl. 1733-1761)

Date: 1755, 1773

"All the empire I had wanted / Then had been my shepherd's heart."

— Shenstone, William (1714-1763)

Date: 1755

"As I grew up, I too soon perceived a rancourous Disposition towards me, attended with Malice prepense, to destroy that Power I had in the Hearts of both my Parents, where I was perhaps judged to sit too triumphant, and maintained my Seat of Empire in my Mother's to her latest Moments."

— Charke [née Cibber; other married name Sacheverell], Charlotte [alias Mr Brown] (1713-1760)

Date: 1755

"This, according to the usual Custom, made each wear an Eye of Coldness and Dislike; 'till, after a long Series of Plagues, Madam Fortune, in one of her Frolicks, was pleased to pay us a small Visit, and during her short Stay we began to be better reconciled, 'till the trumpery Slut tuck...

— Charke [née Cibber; other married name Sacheverell], Charlotte [alias Mr Brown] (1713-1760)

Date: 1755

"But Nature asserted her Right of Empire in my Heart, and pointed me the Road to pay my Child a second Visit."

— Charke [née Cibber; other married name Sacheverell], Charlotte [alias Mr Brown] (1713-1760)

Date: 1755

"Love, when permitted to reign in a tender bosom, is an absolute tyrant, requiring unconditional obedience, and deeming every instance of discretion and prudence, and even too often of virtue, an act of rebellion against its usurped authority, iii. 77. [61]."

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

Date: 1755

"Oh let me now thy tender Mercy find, / With thy free Grace illuminate my Mind, / Let me no more the Slave of Passion be, / But turn my wand'ring Thoughts to Heav'n and thee."

— Masters, Mary (1694-1771)

Date: June, 1756

"But soul-rejoicing health again returns, / The blood meanders gentle in each vein, / The lamp of life renew'd with vigour burns, / And exil'd reason takes her seat again-- / Brisk leaps the heart, the mind's at large once more, / To love, to praise, to bless, to wonder and adore."

— Smart, Christopher (1722-1771)