Date: 1796

"Say, ye who balance things in reason's scale, / Does Magnanimity soar a pitch more high, / When Majesty listens to a trifler's tale?-- / Or when Humanity scorns to hurt a fly?"

— Bishop, Samuel (1731-1795)

Date: w. 1788-93, 1796 (rev. 1815, 1827, 1837, 1897)

"My personal freedom had been somewhat impaired by the House of Commons and the Board of Trade; but I was now delivered from the chain of duty and dependence, from the hopes and fears of political adventure: my sober mind was no longer intoxicated by the fumes of party, and I rejoiced in my escap...

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: w. 1788-93, 1796 (rev. 1815, 1827, 1837, 1897)

"By many, conversation is esteemed as a theatre or a school: but, after the morning has been occupied by the labours of the library, I wish to unbend rather than to exercise my mind; and in the interval between tea and supper I am far from disdaining the innocent amusement of a game at cards."

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: 1796

"And oft in WIT you're cheated there, / As you're deceiv'd in Wedgewood Ware."

— Courtenay, John Lees (1775?-1794)

Date: 1796

"Your stanzas must not only chime, / But sense refin'd keep pace with rhime, / As with their paste, Cooks raisins mingle, / Rich thoughts must knead with sterile jingle."

— Courtenay, John Lees (1775?-1794)

Date: 1796

"Some hurt themselves by flippant WIT, / As too much GAS, balloons will split;-- / With buoyant splendour, up they rise, / The spirit bursts, the bubble dies."

— Courtenay, John Lees (1775?-1794)

Date: 1796

"The effect [of wit on the mind] is strong,--because it's odd, / Like fire electric from a clod; / Or when fix'd air puts out a light, / Tho' vital makes it blaze more bright."

— Courtenay, John Lees (1775?-1794)

Date: 1796

"Who but myself has passed the ordeal of youth, yet sees no single stain upon his conscience?"

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"Pleasure fled, and Shame usurped her seat in his bosom."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"The pleasures which he had just tasted for the first time were still impressed upon his mind: his brain was bewildered, and presented a confused chaos of remorse, voluptuousness, inquietude, and fear."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)