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: 1797

"Still shall the plaintive lyre essay its powers / To dress the cave of Care with Fancy's flowers."

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: w. September 1794, 1797

"Wit, that no suffering could impair, / Was thine, and thine whose mental powers / Of force to chase the fiends that tear / From Fancy's hands her budding flowers."

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1799

Certain beliefs cannot be "outrooted" from the mind

— Brown, Charles Brockden (1771-1810)

Date: 1799, 1806

Gold "tipp'st the leaves of fancy's fairest flow'r / With glitt'ring drops: it feels the numbing spell / Creep through each fibre slow; while ev'ry ill / Of sordid mis'ry blossoms to devour"

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

Date: 1800

"So the schemes / Rais'd by fond Hope in youth's unclouded morn, / While sanguine youth enjoys delusive dreams, / Experience withers; till scarce one remains / Flattering the languid heart, where only Reason reigns!"

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1800

"You see, though a man, I use your privilege, and prefer knitting yarn to threshing my brain with a book or the barn-floor with a flail"

— Brown, Charles Brockden (1771-1810)

Date: 1800

"Mischievous passions" may be too "deeply rooted" in the heart to tear out

— Brown, Charles Brockden (1771-1810)