Date: w. 1764, published 1820

"O Peace of mind, thou lovely guest, / Thou softest soother of the breast, / Dispense thy balmy store."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

Date: Published serially, 1765-1770

"The old Gentleman beheld all with a Pleasure that had long been a Stranger to his Breast, and shared in the Joys of his young Associate"

— Brooke, Henry (c. 1703-1783)

Date: Published serially, 1765-1770

"[A]nd then it was that my Sins came crowding into my Mind, and I believe I was the only Person of the Ship's Company who trembled"

— Brooke, Henry (c. 1703-1783)

Date: 1765

"By reason's standard, then, you judge amiss / Of those whose legislator is caprice."

— Griffith, Elizabeth (1720-1793)

Date: 1767

"Man in this world, Sir, may be compared to a hackney-coach upon a stand; continually subject to be drawn by his unruly appetites, on one foolish jaunt or another; but you will say, if his appetites are horses, which as it were drag him along, reason is the coachman to rule those horses--But, Sir...

— Bickerstaff, Isaac (b. 1733, d. after 1808)

Date: 1767

"[I]ndeed, in her more serious moments, which are but few, she, perhaps, gives me an hearing, when all at once a crowd of gayer thoughts rush on, and kill at once the hopes wherewith I was elated a few minutes before"

— O'Keeffe, John (1747-1833)

Date: 1767

"If this be all, cried Nourjahad, then am I sure I shall never incur the penalty; for though I mean to enjoy all the pleasures that life can bestow, yet am I a stranger to my own heart, if it ever lead me to the wilful commission of a crime."

— Sheridan [née Chamberlaine], Frances (1724-1766)

Date: 1768

"Every dirty passion, and bad propensity in my nature, took the alarm, as I stated the proposition."

— Sterne, Laurence (1713-1768)

Date: 1770

"Spontaneous joys, where nature has its play, / The soul adopts and owns their firstborn sway; / Lightly they frolic o'er the vacant mind, / Unenvied, unmolested, unconfined."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

Date: 1772

"Not so blithe Corin, in his humble Cell, / Within his Bosom kinder Tenants dwell; / And though no Locks, or massy Bolts, secure / The slight Obstruction of his simple Door; / He sleeps at Ease, secure in Heaven's good Care, / Reckless of Villains, and exempt from Fear."

— Whyte, Samuel (1733-1811)