Date: 1701

"Stand by ye Fools--That noble Theam's my share,/ Farce is a Strain too low to court the Fair; / When to that pitch your Thoughts attempt to fly, / Like unskill'd Icarus you soar too high."

— Baker, Thomas (b. 1680-1)

Date: 1704

"Who then wou'd court the Pomp of guilty Power, / When the Mind sickens at the weary Shew, / And flies to temporary Death for Ease."

— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)

Date: 1796

"Does not the hope of that fill our universities with blockheads--and cram our courts full of barristers, with heads as empty as they leave their clients' pockets?"

— Morton, Thomas (1764-1838)

Date: 1799

"Ignorance has set her stamp upon him--his mind seared to every virtuous impression--his heart flint, and his temper moved by the slightest breath"

— West, Matthew (d. 1814); Kotzebue (1761-1819)