Date: 1598

"These are begot in the ventricle of memory, nourished / in the womb of pia mater, and delivered upon the / mellowing of occasion"

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Date: Licens'd Decemb. 22. 1691

"And with reverence be it spoken, and the Parallel kept at due distance, there is something of equality in the Proportion which they bear in reference to one another, with that between Comedy and Tragedy; but the Drama is the long extracted from Romance and History: 'tis the Midwife to Industry, ...

— Congreve, William (1670-1729)

Date: 1696

"Love's a Fever of the Mind, which nothing but our own wishes can asswage, and I don't Question but we shall find Marriage a very cooling Cordial."

— Cibber, Colley (1671-1757)

Date: 1702 [but see also earlier editions 1648, 1651]

"Thy Paradise, thro' whose fair Hills of Joy / Those Springs of everlasting Vigor range, / Which make Souls drunk with Heav'n, which cleanse away / All Earth from Dust, and Flesh to Spirit change."

— Beaumont, Joseph (1616-1699)

Date: 1703

"Distorted Nature shakes at the Controul, / With strong Convulsions rends my strugling Soul; / Each vital String cracks with th' unequal Strife, / Departing Love racks like departing Life; / Yet there the Sorrow ceases with the Breath, / But Love each day renews th' torturing scene of Death."

— Egerton [née Fyge; other married name Field], Sarah (1670-1723)

Date: 1719-1720, 1725

"You see, my Lord, said he with a Sigh, that I have put it out of her Power to triumph over my Weakness, for I confess my Heart still wears her Chains; but e'er my Eyes or Tongue betray to her the shameful Bondage, these Hands should tear them out."

— Haywood [née Fowler], Eliza (1693?-1756)

Date: 1719-1720, 1725

"The Count had never yet seen a Beauty formidable enough to give him an Hour's Uneasiness (purely for the Sake of Love) and would often say, Cupid's Quiver never held an Arrow of force to reach his Heart; those little Delicacies, those trembling aking Transports, which every Sight of the belov'd ...

— Haywood [née Fowler], Eliza (1693?-1756)

Date: 1720

"The extream Idle have no Goust to any Thing but sauntering, which more effectually wearies the Mind and Body than Exercise and Toil."

— Manley, Delarivier (c. 1670-1724)

Date: 1723

"Does thy Soul sicken, while thy Body's sound?"

— Amhurst, Nicholas (1697-1742)

Date: 1723

"Covetousness we may truly call, The Dropsie of the Mind, it being an insatiable Thirst of Gain"

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)