Date: 1722

"My Temper was touch'd before, the wretched Boldness of Spirit, which I had acquir'd, abated, and conscious Guilt began to flow in my Mind."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1722

"This honest friendly way of treating me, unlock'd all the Sluces of my Passions: He broke into my very Soul by it; and I unravell'd all the Wickedness of my Life to him: In a word, I gave him an Abridgement of this whole History."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1724

"So possible is it for us to roll ourselves up in Wickedness, till we grow invulnerable by Conscience; and that Centinel once doz'd, sleeps fast, not to be awaken'd while the Tide of Pleasure continues to flow, or till something dark and dreadful brings us to ourselves again."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1724

"These were the Original Springs, or Fountain-Head, from whence my Affectionate Thoughts were mov'd to assist this poor Woman."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1725

"I will give you the saddest Account you have ever yet been entertain'd with; but you must wrap your Heart in a Case of Adamant, or it will melt away in the hearing of it."

— Davys, Mary (1674-1732)

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)