Date: Friday, May 13, 1717

"Nature which was at first, excepting the original Taint, fair, and sincere, or as Mr. Lock says, 'a blank Sheet of Paper' capable of receiving any Characters at the Pleasure of the Writer, soon is either blurred over with Impertinence, fouled with Impurity, or improved and dignified with Impress...

— Theobald, Lewis (1688-1744)

Date: 1717

"So very well Sweetheart; I am mightily troubled with Phlegm--od I took it a little too high for my Constitution, but every time I look upon you, I fancy my self but Eighteen, and my Heart springs in my Belly like a Bird in a Cage."

— Bullock, Christopher (bap. 1690, d. 1722)

Date: January 16, 1717

"Madam, excuse this Absence of Mind; my animal Spirits had deserted the Avenues of my Senses, and retired to the Recesses of the Brain, to contemplate a beautiful Idea. I could not force the vagrant Creatures back again into their Posts, to move those Parts of the Body that express Civility."

— Gay, John (1685-1732); Pope, Alexander (1688-1744); Arbuthnot, John (bap. 1677, d. 1735)

Date: 1717

"For it proceeds from the Light of Nature in my Breast, which tells me that my Life is not my own, but God's, who gave it, and that I am answerable for any Neglect of mine in not preserving the same."

— Earbery, Matthias (1690-1740)

Date: 1717, 1736

"Lo these were they, whose souls the Furies steel'd, / And curs'd with hearts unknowing how to yield."

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

Date: 1717, 1736

"Most souls, 'tis true, but peep out once an age, / Dull sullen pris'ners in the body's cage."

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

Date: 1717, 1736

"Dim lights of life that burn a length of years, / Useless, unseen, as lamps in sepulchres"

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

Date: 1717, 1736

"Like Eastern Kings a lazy state they keep, / And close confin'd in their own palace sleep."

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

Date: 1717, 1736

"As into air the purer spirits flow, / And sep'rate from their kindred dregs below; / So flew the soul to its congenial place"

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

Date: 1684, 1717

"Fancy sits Queen of all; / While the poor under-Faculties resort, / And to her fickle Majesty make Court"

— Duke, Richard (1658-1711)