Date: 1743

Reason "doth not foolishly say to us, be not glad, orbe not sorry, which would be as vain and idle, as to bid the purling River cease to run, or the raging Wind to blow"

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

Date: 1760-7

"But here, you must distinguish--the thought floated only in Dr. Slop's mind, without sail or ballast to it, as a simple proposition; millions of which, as your worship knows, are every day swiming quietly in the middle of the thin juice of a man's understanding, without being carried backwards o...

— Sterne, Laurence (1713-1768)