Date: 1723, 1740

"Those slighted Favours which cold Nymphs dispense, / Mere common Counters of the Sense, / Defective both in Mettle and in Measure, / A Lover's Fancy coins into a Treasure."

— Sheffield, John, first duke of Buckingham and Normanby (1647-1721)

Date: 1723, 1740

"And if their Heads but any Substance hold, / Love ripens all that Dross into the purest Gold."

— Sheffield, John, first duke of Buckingham and Normanby (1647-1721)

Date: May 6, 1736

"To express this to us by Similitudes both just and beautiful; some Philosophers compare an human Soul to an empty Cabinet, of inexpressible Value for the Matter and Workmanship: and particularly, for the wonderful Contrivance of it, as having all imaginable Conveniencies within, for treasuring u...

— Denne, John (1693-1767)

Date: 1742

"Thus on soft sophas in her cave reclin'd, / Slept the fam'd goddess of the leaden mind."

— Dodd, William (1729-1777)

Date: Tuesday, August 28, 1750

"Sorrow is a kind of rust of the soul, which every new idea contributes in its passage to scour away."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1751

Religion shall "Shall purge their Minds from all impure Allays / Of sordid Selfishness and brutal Sense,"

— West, Gilbert (1703-1756)

Date: 1752

"His Hope revives, fresh Courage steels his Heart."

— Browne, Moses (1706-1787)

Date: 1752, 1791

"Is apathy, is heart of steel, / Nor ear to hear, nor sense to feel."

— Smart, Christopher (1722-1771)

Date: January 28, 1753

"I have heard that his understanding was rather hurt by the absolute retirement in which he lived, and indeed he had an imagination too lively to be trusted to itself; the treasures of it were inexhaustible, but for want of commerce with mankind he made that rich oar into bright but useless medal...

— Montagu [née Robinson], Elizabeth (1718-1800)

Date: 1754

"Such high regard on Piety I place, / On pure simplicity of life; a breast / Steel'd against bribes, by naked truth possess'd, / And with a spotless rigid conscience blest"

— Duncombe, John (1729-1786) [pseud.]