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: Friday, November 28, 1712

"Every one has in him a natural Alloy, tho' one may be fuller of Dross than another: For this reason I cannot think it right to introduce a perfect or a faultless Man upon the Stage; not only because such a Character is improper to move Compassion, but because there is no such a thing in Nature."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: Friday, November 28, 1712

"Such an Example corrects the Insolence of Human Nature, softens the Mind of the Beholder with Sentiments of Pity and Compassion, comforts him under his own private Affliction, and teaches him not to judge Mens Virtues by their Successes."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: Wednesday, January 9, 1712

"So great an Assembly of Ladies placed in gradual Rows in all the Ornaments of Jewels, Silk and Colours, gave so lively and gay an Impression to the Heart, that methought the Season of the Year was vanished; and I did not think it an ill Expression of a young Fellow who stood near me, that called...

— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)

Date: Tuesday, February 12, 1712

"In the same manner a Representation of those Calamities and Misfortunes which a weak Man suffers from wrong Measures, and ill-concerted Schemes of Life, is apt to make a deeper Impression upon our Minds, than the wisest Maxims and Instructions that can be given us, for avoiding the like Follies ...

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: Friday, February 15, 1712

"Her Person, as it is thus studiously embellished by Nature, thus adorned with unpremeditated Graces, is a fit Lodging for a Mind so fair and lovely; there dwell rational Piety, modest Hope, and chearful Resignation."

— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)

Date: Friday, February 15, 1712

"He might have longer wandered in the Labyrinths of Vice and Folly, had not Emilia's prudent Conduct won him over to the Government of his Reason."

— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)

Date: Saturday, February 16, 1712

"The Resemblance does not, perhaps, last above a Line or two, but the Poet runs on with the Hint till he has raised out of it some glorious Image or Sentiment, proper to inflame the Mind of the Reader, and to give it that sublime kind of Entertainment, which is suitable to the Nature of an Heroic...

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: Saturday, February 23, 1712

"This Episode of the fallen Spirits, and their Place of Habitation, comes in very happily to unbend the Mind of the Reader from its Attention to the Debate."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: February 27, 1712

"On the other hand, without any Touch of Envy, a temperate and well-govern'd Mind looks down on such as are exalted with Success, with a certain Shame for the Imbecility of human Nature, that can so far forget how liable it is to Calamity, as to grow giddy with only the Suspence of Sorrow, which ...

— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)