Date: 1746

"Deep to the root / Of vegetation parch'd, the cleaving fields / And slippery lawn an arid hue disclose, / Blast Fancy's bloom, and wither e'en the soul."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1761, 1765

"Labour and Want (unhospitable twain) / Chill not the current in Life's salient vein; / Nor damp the spirits, else of sprightly cast, / Nor check the nobler passions of the breast; / Nor blunt the fine Sensation's tender edge, / Which man's chief pride philosophers allege. / Thus some fair ...

— Stevenson, William (1730-1783)

Date: 1765

"Reason in the bosom pours, / Its growth improves, its fruit matures, / Each counsel of the human brain / Weighs in his scale, and stamps it vain?"

— Merrick, James (1720-1769)

Date: 1782

"Pleasure, the rambling Bird! the painted Jay! / May snatch the richest seeds of Verse away; / Or Indolence, the worm that winds with art / Thro' the close texture of the cleanest heart, / May, if they haply have begun to shoot, / With partial mischief wound the sick'ning root; / Or Avarice, the ...

— Hayley, William (1745-1820)

Date: 1798 [1797?]

"Too much abounds, in this romantic age, / The horrid tale, and fear-inspiring page; / The noxious draughts from terror's poison'd bowl, / Shake the firm nerve, emasculate the soul, / The deadly bloit of prejudice impart, / And nip the fairest blossoms of the heart."

— Jones, Jenkin [Captain] (fl. 1798)

Date: 1798 [1797?]

"Too much abounds, in this romantic age, / The horrid tale, and fear-inspiring page; / The noxious draughts from terror's poison'd bowl, / Shake the firm nerve, emasculate the soul, / The deadly bloit of prejudice impart, / And nip the fairest blossoms of the heart."

— Jones, Jenkin [Captain] (fl. 1798)