Date: 1725

"You shall not fly, Lorenzo, said Elvira, (whose Heart began to melt) you shall stay and be as happy as I can make you; Elvira shall keep her Promise, and do all you desire, as far as she has power; therefore call back all those wandring Thoughts, and fix them in my Breast for ever."

— Davys, Mary (1674-1732)

Date: 1735

"He seemed therefore confident, that instead of Reason, we were only possessed of some Quality fitted to increase our natural Vices; as the Reflection from a troubled Stream returns the Image of an ill-shapen Body, not only larger, but more distorted."

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

Date: 1736

"He saw the melting Passion display itself a thousand different ways; her shining Eyes swam in a Sea of Languor: her rosy Cheeks received a livelier and more fresh Vermillion."

— Haywood [née Fowler], Eliza (1693?-1756)

Date: 1741 [1740]; continued in 1741

"She pours out all her Soul in [Soliloquies and little Reasonings] before her Parents without Disguise; so that one may judge of, nay, almost see, the inmost Recesses of her Mind"

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

Date: 1741 [1740]; continued in 1741

The mind may be a "pure clear Fountain of Truth and Innocence."

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

Date: 1741 [1740]; continued in 1741

"While the Banks of Discretion keep within their natural Chanel the proud Waves of Passion, all calm and serene, glides along the silver Current, inlivening the adjacent Meadows, as it passes, with a brighter and more flowery Verdure"

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

Date: 1741 [1740]; continued in 1741

"But if the Torrents of sensual Love are permitted to descend from the Hills of credulous Hope, they may so swell the gentle Stream, as to make it difficult, if not impossible, to be retain'd in its usual Bounds."

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

Date: 1741 [1740]; continued in 1741

"Why, the Trees of Resolution, and the Shrubs of cautious Fear, whose intertwining Roots had contributed to support the frail Mound, being loosen'd from their Hold, they, and the Bank itself, will be seen floating on the Surface of the triumphant Waters."

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

Date: 1741 [1740]; continued in 1741

"I'm sure, said he, my Heart's turn'd into Butter, and is running away at my Eyes."

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

Date: 1741

"From the arietation and motion of the spirits in those canals proceed all the different sorts of thought."

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744); Arbuthnot, John (bap. 1677, d. 1735)