Date: 1700

"Oh! all ye Powers that virtuous Love inspire, / Assist me now: inform my Vocal Organs / With Angel Eloquence, such as can melt / His Heart of Flint, and move his former Kindness."

— Centlivre [née Freeman; other married name Carroll], Susanna (bap. 1669?, d. 1723)

Date: 1702

"Love, Sorrow, and the Sting of vile Reproach, / Succeeding one another in their Course, / Like Drops of Eating Water on the Marble, / At length have worn my boasted Courage down."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

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: 1723

"Look on the Boy, / And let his manly Face, which promiseth / Successful Fortune, steel thy melting Heart / To hold thy own, and leave thine own with him."

— Cibber, Theophilus (1703-1758)

Date: 1775

"But, O, my brother! if thou hast a heart / That is not steel'd with stoic apathy / Against the magic of all-conqu'ring love, / Beware of beauty's pow'r; for she has charms / Wou'd melt the frozen breast of hoary age, / Or draw the lonely hermit from his cell / To gaze upon her."

— Francklin, Thomas (1721-1784)