Date: 1759

"Strive to extirpate Pride, that Hell-sprung Root, / Whence Anger, Malice, Strife, and Madness shoot; / If, in your Mind, that pois'nous Weed should grow, / In vain, the Seeds of Discipline, I sow; / Where that Weed grows, so barren in the Soil, / It is not worth my Culture, and my Toil."

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"Refine you Spirit, with assiduous Care, / From ev'ry vicious Weed, your Virtue clear; / Virtue, and Vice, grow in the human Mind, / Like Corn, and Weeds, together closely join'd; / Extirpate Self-conceit, the worst of Weeds, / That checks the Growth of intellectual Seeds; / Each rebel Passion, ...

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"Reason, and Faith, in friendly Union join'd, / Form the sincere Religion of the Mind; / Good Actions, its Sincerity declare, / Like Trees distinguish'd by the Fruit, they bear."

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"Ah! never at immodest Plays appear; / A wanton Farce, and a lascivious Play, / The Seeds of Vice insensibly convey; / There Virgin Innocence is first betray'd / By bad Impressions, on the Fancy made."

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1759

"Minds slothful, like uncultivated Earth, / To Weeds of Vice, and Folly, give a Birth; / Silver, and Gold, for Want of proper Use, / Their Splendor lose, and cancrous Rust produce; / Streams owe their Purity, to active Speed, / If Waters stagnate, they Corruption breed."

— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)

Date: 1761, 1765

"Labour and Want (unhospitable twain) / Chill not the current in Life's salient vein; / Nor damp the spirits, else of sprightly cast, / Nor check the nobler passions of the breast; / Nor blunt the fine Sensation's tender edge, / Which man's chief pride philosophers allege. / Thus some fair ...

— Stevenson, William (1730-1783)

Date: 1764

"Like such a garden, when the human soul, / Uncultured, wild, impatient of control, / Brings forth those passions of luxuriant race, /Which spread, and stifle every herb of grace

— Churchill, Charles (1731-1764)

Date: 1764

Virtue may wither on the bed she was born until Philosophy steps in and "clears the encumbered land" and "roots up every weed"

— Churchill, Charles (1731-1764)

Date: 1765

"Reason in the bosom pours, / Its growth improves, its fruit matures, / Each counsel of the human brain / Weighs in his scale, and stamps it vain?"

— Merrick, James (1720-1769)

Date: 1765

"That fruit thy covenant may yield, / Which is upon my forehead seal'd, / And on my heart ingraft."

— Smart, Christopher (1722-1771)