Date: 1796

"Alas! there are invisible fetters which no mortal can wrench! both soft and firm are the bonds of virtue, no force can loosen its strong ties, no sword divide it from my soul! it has guided me from childhood to the age of woman, it presided over my marriage, it has attended me in all my wretched...

— Anonymous; Kotzebue (1761-1819)

Date: 1796, 1806

"Ambition!--not that emulative zeal Which wings the tow'ring souls of godlike men! / But bold, oppressive, self-created pow'r, / That, trampling o'er the barrier of the laws, / And scattering wide the tender shoots of pity, / Strikes at the root of reason, and confines / Nature itself in bondage!"

— Robinson [Née Darby], Mary [Perdita] (1758-1800)

Date: January 13, 1796

"Forbear! there is a spirit within me, sunk tho' I am in misery and despair, that will not suffer you, tho' now a conqueror in your turn, and towering far above the wretched son of Hastings, to take this base advantage of your fortune, and drag a trembling victim to the altar only to riot in the ...

— Cumberland, Richard (1732-1811)

Date: 1798

"My mother I have never seen--never by affection's ties has she chained my soul to her's!"

— Plumptre, Anne (1760-1818); Kotzebue (1761-1819)

Date: 1798

"Up, break thy fetters! Burst thy prison! My soul is free! My essence knows no chains."

— Render, William (fl. 1790-1801); August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue (1761-1819)