Date: w. 1788-93, 1796 (rev. 1815, 1827, 1837, 1897)

"The dissipation of Blandford, and the disputes of Portsmouth, consumed the hours which were not employed in the field; and amid the perpetual hurry of an inn, a barrack, or a guard-room, all literary ideas were banished from my mind."

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: 1796

"Camilla remained in a state of accumulated distress, that knew not upon what object most to dwell: her father, shocked and irritated beyond the mild endurance of his character; her brother, wantonly sporting with his family's honour, and his own morals and reputation; her uncle, preparing for nu...

— Burney [married name D'Arblay], Frances (1752-1840)

Date: 1797

"The impression becomes deeper; not in consequence of being reinforced by fresh arguments, but merely by dint of having longer rested in the mind; and as they [doubts] increase in force, they creep on and extend themselves. At length they diffuse themselves over the whole of Religion, and possess...

— Wilberforce, William (1759-1833)

Date: 1798

"A woman, with sentiments as pure, as refined, and as delicate, as ever inhabited a human heart!"

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: 1798

"Admitting the justice of these assertions, we see that memory to great men is but a subordinate servant, a treasurer who receives, and is expected to keep faithfully whatever is committed to his care; and not only to preserve faithfully all deposits, but to produce them at the moment they are wa...

— Edgeworth, Maria

Date: w. 1761-2, rev. 1773-4, 1805

"J'abandonne mon esprit à tout son libertinage. Je le laisse maître de suivre la première idée sage ou folle qui se présente, comme on voit dans l'allée de Foy nos jeunes dissolus marcher sur les pas d'une courtisane à l'air éventé, au visage riant, à l'oeil vif, au nez retroussé, quitter celle-c...

— Diderot, Denis (1713-1784)

Date: 1823

"But at the desk Tipp was quite another sort of creature. Thence all ideas, that were purely ornamental, were banished"

— Lamb, Charles (1775-1834)

Date: 1831

"The mind may aptly be described under the denomination of the 'stranger at home.'"

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: 1831

"On set occasions and at appropriate times we examine our stores, and ascertain the various commodities we have, laid up in our presses and our coffers. Like the governor of a fort in time of peace, which was erected to keep out a foreign assailant, we occasionally visit our armoury, and take acc...

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: w. 1821, 1840

"They may have perceived the beauty of those immortal compositions, simply as fragments and isolated portions: those who are more finely organized, or born in a happier age, may recognize them as episodes to that great poem, which all poets, like the co-operating thoughts of one great mind, have ...

— Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822)