Date: 1761

"Why must I only answer thee with sighs? / What is it hangs thus heavy on my heart, / And weighs it down, when it should spring with joy? / Alas! 'tis conscience; 'tis the pride of honour; / 'Tis the severe condition of my fate, / Which makes it ruin to be lov'd by Tullia, / And warns me to suppr...

— Cumberland, Richard (1732-1811)

Date: 1761

"But now Adversity's refining fire / Melts down the base alloy of earthly passions, / And purifies the temper of the heart."

— Cumberland, Richard (1732-1811)

Date: 1761

"Let not the memory of my wrongs extinguish / That spark divine, which animates the soul, / And lights the path of glory."

— Cumberland, Richard (1732-1811)

Date: 1761

"How my soul burns within me!"

— Cumberland, Richard (1732-1811)

Date: 1761

"Here o'er this holy flame. / I join your hands, an emblem of your hearts: / Henceforth be one."

— Cumberland, Richard (1732-1811)

Date: 1775

A heart may glow with pure Julian fire

— Gray, Thomas (1716-1771)

Date: 1775

An "unquenchable" spark may glow within the breast and blaze into freedom

— Gray, Thomas (1716-1771)

Date: 1777

"Her mind's a burning fire, / Where sudden thoughts, like wreaths of smoak arise, / And, parting from the flame, disperse in air."

— Home, John (1722-1808)

Date: 1779

"Ambition! thou whose hallow'd flame can live / Only in minds refin'd from the gross elements / Of which the herd of human kind are made!"

— Cowley [née Parkhouse], Hannah (1743-1809)

Date: 1779

"If one spark of virtue / Yet hovers in his mind--Oh, grant me, Heaven! / To kindle it afresh, and be the flame immortal!"

— Cowley [née Parkhouse], Hannah (1743-1809)