Date: 1691

"For wheresoe'r We look's an unknown Coast, / Our Mind perplex'd in endless Storms is tost; / And in th' Abyss all Wit and Learning lost."

— Heyrick, Thomas (bap. 1649. d. 1694)

Date: 1712, 1796

"Unsteady nature, varying like the wind, / Hurries to each extreme th'unstable mind; / At sea becalm'd, we wish some brisker gales / Would on us rise, and fill our limber sails: / We have our wish; and straight our skiff is toss'd / So high, we are in danger to be lost."

— Ellwood, Thomas (1639-1713)

Date: 1730

"Tho' his capacious Head, the sacred Ark! / Where a whole World of Science does imbark, / Has steer'd and labour'd all it can, / As Reason fill'd the Sail, / Yet what does all this fruitless search avail?"

— Woodward, George (b. 1708?)

Date: 1746

"As gentle winds inflate the spreading sails," "so wealth and glory swell the Pride"

— Ruffhead, James

Date: 1765

""Unwise, who, tossing on the watery way, / All to the storm th'unfetter'd sail devolve; / Man more unwise resigns the mental sway, / Born headlong on by passion's keen resolve."

— Beattie, James (1735-1803)

Date: 1766

"Should you but discompose the tide, / On which Ideas wont to ride, / Ferment it with a yeasty Storm, / Or with high Floods of Wine deform."

— Lloyd, Evan (1734-1776)

Date: 1766

"Her tuneful tongue with eloquence and ease, / The golden merchandize of thought conveys; / Brisk fancy wafts it with her sprightly gales, / While judgment ballasts all the swelling sails."

— Woodhouse, James (bap. 1735, d. 1820)

Date: 1782

Complacency may breath a gentle gail over the thoughts and swell an "easy sail"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)