Date: 1720

"Well, I know that too, William, said I; but the Captain is a Man will be ruled by Reason; what have you to say to it?."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1722

"There is nothing so absurd, so surfeiting, so ridiculous as a Man heated by Wine in his Head, and a wicked Gust in his Inclination together; he is in the possession of two Devils at once, and can no more govern himself by his Reason than a Mill can Grind without Water."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1722, 1723

"For Jesus sake, remove not my Distress, / Till free Triumphant Grace shall Reposess / The Vacant Throne; from whence my Sins Depart, / And make a willing Captive of my Heart."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1724

"It is for this Reason, that I have so largely set down the Particulars of the Caresses I was treated with by the Jeweller, and also by this Prince; not to make the Story an Incentive to the Vice, which I am now such a sorrowful Penitent for being guilty of, God forbid any shou'd make so vile a U...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: June 22, 1731

"But Heaven, who knows our Frame, and graciously distinguishes between Frailty and Presumption, will make a Difference, tho' Man cannot, who sees not the Heart, but only judges by the outward Action."

— Lillo, George (1691/3-1739)

Date: 1734

"Nature feels / A strange commotion to her inmost centre; / The throne of reason shakes"

— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)

Date: 1734

"This flesh, this circling blood, these brutal powers, / Made to obey, turn rebels to the mind, / Nor hear its laws"

— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)

Date: 1734

Nature's meaner springs may be fir'd to impetuous ferments" and "little restless atoms rise and reign / Tyrants in sov'reign uproar, and impose / Ideas on the mind"

— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)

Date: 1734

"If I but close my eyes, strange images / In thousand forms and thousand colours rise, / Stars, rainbows, moons, green dragons, bears and ghosts, / An endless medley rush upon the stage, / And dance and riot wild in reason's court / Above control."

— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)

Date: October, 1739

"Bid Fancy quit her fairy cell, / In all her colours drest / While prompt her sallies to control, / Reason, the judge, recalls the soul / To Truth's severest test."

— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)