Date: 1691
"As for the Loves of these Villagers, the Intriegues of their Amours are not a little remarkable, they being very pretty Animals when disguis'd with that Passion: They are Tinder to such Flames, being quickly set on fire, even by the least spark, which when it hath catch'd the Match of their Soul...
preview | full record— Dunton, John (1659–1732)
Date: 1708
"Passions are too hurrying to last; Vapours that start from a Mercurial Brain, whose wild Chimera's flush the lighter Faculties, which tir'd i'th' vain pursuit of fancy'd Pleasures."
preview | full record— Baker, Thomas (b. 1680-1)
Date: February 22, 1723
"We cheat the world / With florid outside 'till we meet surprize; / Then conscience, working inward like a mole, / Crumbles the surface, and reveals the dirt / From which our actions spring."
preview | full record— Fenton, Elijah (1683-1730)
Date: 1728
"Gold is the Load-stone of the Great, / And vulgar Souls must catch the glitt'ring Bait."
preview | full record— Pattison, William (1706-1727)
Date: 1728, 1729, 1736
"She form'd this image of well-bodied air, / With pert flat eyes she window'd well its head, / A brain of feathers, and a heart of lead, / And empty words she gave, and sounding strain, / But senseless, lifeless! idol void and vain!"
preview | full record— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)
Date: 1737
"Brave Souls when loos'd from this ignoble Chain / Of Clay, and sent to their own Heav'n again, / From Earth's gross Orb on Virtue's Pinions rise / In Æther wanton, and enjoy the Skies."
preview | full record— Baker, Henry (1698-1774)
Date: 1742
"Wisdom, though richer than Peruvian mines, / And sweeter than the sweet ambrosial hive,-- / What is she but the means of happiness?"
preview | full record— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)
Date: 1742
"My soul is dead, my heart is stone, / A cage of birds and beasts unclean, / A den of thieves, a dire abode / Of dragons, but no house of God."
preview | full record— Wesley, John and Charles
Date: 1744, 1772, 1795
"These the part / Perform of eager monitors, and goad / The soul more sharply than with points of steel, / Her enemies to shun or to resist."
preview | full record— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)
Date: 1745
"Wouldst thou receive them, other Thoughts there are, / On angel-wing, descending from above, / Which these, with art Divine, would counterwork, / And form celestial armour for thy peace."<
preview | full record— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)