Date: 1785, 1838

"Hapless the lad whose mind such dreams [of scribbling] invade, / And win to verse the talents due to trade."

— Crabbe, George (1754-1832)

Date: 1785

"'Twixt shame and passion floats the struggling mind, / To Virtue now, and now to vice inclin'd, / This frowns refusal, that persuades to yield, / Till Reason falls, and Passion takes the field."

— Pratt, Samuel Jackson [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749-1814)

Date: 1786

"From that awful period, almost every expectation is forlorn: the heart is left unguarded: its great protector is no more: the vices therefore, which so long encompassed it in vain, obtain an easy victory: in crouds they pour into the defenceless avenues, and take possession of the soul: there is...

— Clarkson, Thomas (1760–1846)

Date: 1788

"But against this dangerous attack she endeavoured to fortify that sensible heart, by considering the probable event of her yielding to it."

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1788

"Cursed be the hour I first indulged it, and cursed the weakness of mind that cannot conquer it!"

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1788

"she hoped that absence and reflection, together with the conviction of it's being hopeless, would conquer this infant passion before it could gather strength wholly to ruin his repose."

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1788

"I attempted, indeed, at the beginning of our acquaintance--ah! how vainly attempted!--to conquer a passion which I believed was rendered hopeless by your prior engagement."

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1786, 1787, 1788; 1789

"She can conquer a heart--that she wants sense to keep."

— Williams, John [pseud. Anthony Pasquin] (1754-1818)

Date: 1786, 1787, 1788; 1789

"For spells may be said to exist in that tone, / Whose graces can conquer all hearts--but her own."

— Williams, John [pseud. Anthony Pasquin] (1754-1818)

Date: 1790?

"Be careful, greatly careful, my dear child, that familiarity with the sight, does not make you grow indifferent to the consequences of such actions, and so tempt you to partake of the guilt: but let the advice contained in the following sheets sink deep into your mind, and be a shield to defend ...

— Kilner, Dorothy (1755-1836)