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."

— Baker, Thomas (b. 1680-1)

Date: 1708

"For Folly has over-whelmed them, and, what they have sought after, has covered their Hearts like Rust; God has sealed up their Hearts and their Ears, and their Eyes are dim, and they shall have sore Punishment."

— Ockley, Simon (bap. 1679, d. 1720)

Date: 1709, 1714

"We polish one another, and rub off our Corners and rough Sides by a sort of amicable Collision. To restrain this, is inevitably to bring a Rust upon Mens Understandings."

— Cooper, Anthony Ashley, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)

Date: 1709

"Nor can you unconcern'd thro' Ludgate pass / Without a Conscience steel'd, or Heart of Brass; / Where, thro' the Iron Grate, a Rueful Tongue / Directs you to the Box below 'em hung, / To angle Farthings from the num'rous Throng"

— Gould, Robert (b. 1660?, d. in or before 1709)

Date: 1709

"When Gene'rous Duckett fell in all his Prime, / That Iron Heart which ne'er before did bend / Broke into Tears, and melted for a Friend."

— Gould, Robert (b. 1660?, d. in or before 1709)

Date: 1709

"Purg'd from the Dross of a Terrestrial Mind, / The Blest are all Propitious to Mankind:"

— Gould, Robert (b. 1660?, d. in or before 1709)

Date: 1709

"O stamp upon my Soul / Some blissful Image of the fair Deceas'd / To call my Passions and my Eyes aside / From the dear breathless Clay."

— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)

Date: 1710 [1719, 1729]

"[N]o alloy / Of Flesh" can destroy the "sprightly Beauties" of the soul "Nor Death nor Fate can snatch the lasting Joy. / Through ev'ry Limb the active Spirit flows;
Diffusing Life and Vigour as it goes, / But is it self unmixt, and free from Dross"

— Oldisworth, William (1680-1734)

Date: 1710 [1719, 1729]

"Black Night comes on, and interrupts the Day, / E'er it can chase the Mists and Fogs away; / The Dregs of Flesh and Drossy Lees, o'errun / The Soul, and weigh the strugling Spirit down:"

— Oldisworth, William (1680-1734)

Date: 1710, 1714

"Thus I contend with Fancy and Opinion; and search the Mint and Foundery of Imagination. For here the Appetites and Desires are fabricated. Hence they derive their Privilege and Currency. If I can stop the Mischief here, and prevent false Coinage; I am safe."

— Cooper, Anthony Ashley, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)