Date: 1715

"Shall thy Soul / Still scorn the World, still flie the Joys that court / Thy blooming Beauty, and thy tender Youth? / Still shall she soar on Contemplation's Wing, / And mix with nothing meaner than the Stars; / As Heaven and Immortality alone / Were Objects worthy to employ her Faculties."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

Date: 1718

"Affronted Reason stings us with Remorse, / Suggests the Danger and obstructs our Course."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1718

"Repeated Prostitutions conquer Shame, / Assure the Face, and struggling Reason tame."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1718

"Should you the Reins to guilty Passions give, / And to suppress reluctant Conscience strive, / You must maintain a long uncertain Field, / By Turns prevail, by Turns inglorious yield."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1718

"That dreadful Worm may long enchanted lie, / And roll'd in Volumes sleep, but cannot die; / Rousing at Times, indignant 'twill exert / Immortal Rage, and sting you to the Heart."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: First performed February 17, 1720.

"No more--thou waken'st in my tortur'd Heart / The cruel conscious Worm that stings to Madness. / O I'm undone!--I know it, and can bear / To be undone for thee, but not to lose thee."

— Hughes, John (1678?-1720)

Date: 1721

"Bless God, who did not give our Soul / To their sharp Teeth a Prey."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1721

"Our Soul, as from a broken Snare / A Bird escapes, is fled."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1722

"When religious passions, namely, love, desire, hope and delight are exalted in the highest degree, and agitate the soul with the greatest vehemence, while reason presides as sovereign, holds the reins, and directs all their motions; this is so far from being a wild and extravagant temper of mind...

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1726

"Ha, ha, ha, he is shaken, my dear Ringwood; this Man of Depth and Inquiry; he is shaken; his Reason, like an ill-managed Horse, starts under him: What is this haughty Guide of imperious Man, this sufficient Word, Wisdom."

— Johnson, Charles (1679?-1748)