Date: 1753

"These divine foundations can never be shaken; all the good that is imprinted upon this rasa tabula can never be effaced; this holy favour with which a new vessel is imbued, will last a long time."

— Du Bosc, Jacques (d. 1660)

Date: 1754

"Look in my face; and, could my heart lie bare, / The Father would be seen engraven there"

— Jeffreys, George (1678-1755)

Date: 1755

"My squire, however, will intimate how I am; while I content myself with assuring you, that I will, to all eternity, preserve engraven upon the tablets of my memory, the benevolence you this day vouchsafed unto me, that I may be grateful for the favour, as long as life shall remain."

— Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de (1547-1616); Smollett, Tobias (1721-1771)

Date: 1757-9

"[N]o Sentence so severe / As this, my Mind, much less my Paper, stains"

— Duncombe, John (1729-1786) [Editor]

Date: 1761, 1790

If the mind is corporeal it must be composed of infinite parts: "Which then can claim dominion o'er the rest, / Or stamp the ruling passion in the breast"

— Jenyns, Soame (1704-1787); Browne, Isaac Hawkins (1706-1760)

Date: 1761, 1790

"This then's the first great law by Nature giv'n, / Stamp'd on our souls, and ratify'd by Heav'n"

— Jenyns, Soame (1704-1787); Browne, Isaac Hawkins (1706-1760)

Date: 1761

The mind of the hearer might very well be a tabula rasa, free from every prejudice, and like soft wax, susceptible of every impression; and with all this, not yield to truth itself, proposed in the manner it is every day proposed, under the appearance of falsehood."

— Batteaux, Charles (1713-1780)

Date: 1761

"The image of Eloisa, never to be erased from my mind, shall be my shield, and render my soul invulnerable."

— Rousseau, Jean-Jacques (1712-1778); Kenrick, William (1729/30-1779)

Date: 1762

"Had the proud exile read my heart, / He then must have appeas'd the woes I suffer'd, / He then had pardon'd, and thou might'st have sooth'd me."

— Cradock, Joseph (1742-1826)

Date: 1765

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

— Smart, Christopher (1722-1771)