Date: 1598

"These are begot in the ventricle of memory, nourished / in the womb of pia mater, and delivered upon the / mellowing of occasion"

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Date: Licens'd Decemb. 22. 1691

"And with reverence be it spoken, and the Parallel kept at due distance, there is something of equality in the Proportion which they bear in reference to one another, with that between Comedy and Tragedy; but the Drama is the long extracted from Romance and History: 'tis the Midwife to Industry, ...

— Congreve, William (1670-1729)

Date: 1696

"Love's a Fever of the Mind, which nothing but our own wishes can asswage, and I don't Question but we shall find Marriage a very cooling Cordial."

— Cibber, Colley (1671-1757)

Date: 1702 [but see also earlier editions 1648, 1651]

"Thy Paradise, thro' whose fair Hills of Joy / Those Springs of everlasting Vigor range, / Which make Souls drunk with Heav'n, which cleanse away / All Earth from Dust, and Flesh to Spirit change."

— Beaumont, Joseph (1616-1699)

Date: 1720

"The extream Idle have no Goust to any Thing but sauntering, which more effectually wearies the Mind and Body than Exercise and Toil."

— Manley, Delarivier (c. 1670-1724)

Date: 1723

"Does thy Soul sicken, while thy Body's sound?"

— Amhurst, Nicholas (1697-1742)

Date: 1726, 1753

"Small is the soul's first wound, from beauty's dart, / And scarce th' unheeded fever warms the heart."

— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)

Date: 1728

"Or canst Thou judge, by partial Passion blind?"

— Pattison, William (1706-1727)

Date: 1773

"There, whilst the vault resounds my plaintive sigh, / In deathful echoes, shall Despondence bring / The saddest visions on the mind's wan eye, / That ever wav'd on Fancy's blackest wing"

— Wolcot, John, pseud. Peter Pindar, (1738-1819)

Date: 1823

The "venom'd shafts" of Cupid "empoison mortal joy," "Drawing from heav'n the soul of man to earth, / With foul alloy debasing purest treasure."

— Burges, Sir James Bland (1752-1824)