Date: 1790

"'Tis thus the arch deceiver, busy still / To ruin man, besets the female heart, / Insinuates evil counsel, and inflames / The hungry passions, that like arid flax / Catch at a spark, and mount into a blaze."

— Hurdis, James (1763-1801)

Date: 1790

"Our minds, when young, are like tinder--they will catch any spark, whether emitted by Virtue or by Vice; and it is to be lamented, that the latter emits them more than the former."

— Trusler, John (1735-1820)

Date: 1793

"Perish the masses for a burning soul, / That never yet extinguish'd half a coal!"

— Wolcot, John, pseud. Peter Pindar, (1738-1819)

Date: 1837

"As these white robes are soil'd and dark, / To yonder shining ground; / As this pale taper's earthly spark, / To yonder argent round; / So shows my soul before the Lamb, / My spirit before Thee; / So in mine earthly house I am, / To that I hope to be."

— Tennyson, Alfred, first Baron Tennyson (1809–1892)