Date: 1687

"At this enrag'd, the injur'd Deity / Chose out the best of his Artillery, / And in a blooming Virgin's Dove-like Eyes / He planted his Victorious Batteries; / (Phillis her Name, the best of Woman-kind, / Could Love have gain'd the Empire of her Mind) / These shot so furiously against my Heart, /...

— Cutts, John, Baron Cutts of Gowran (1660/1-1707)

Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706

"In all these cases, Ideas in the Mind, quickly fade, and often vanish quite out of the Understanding, leaving no more footsteps or remaining Characters of themselves, than Shadows do flying over fields of Corn; and the Mind is as void of them, as if they never had been there."

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1691

"Thirdly, Let us hence duly learn to prize and value our Souls; is the Body such a rare Piece, what this is the Soul? the Body is but the Husk or Shell, the Soul is the Kernel; the Body is but the Cask, the Soul the precious Liquor contained in it; the Body is but the Cabinet; the Soul the Jewel;...

— Ray [formerly Wray], John (1627–1705)

Date: 1691

"If Old and New i'th Brain together crowd, / How is it Room and Peace is them allow'd? /How do they and their Equipages come? /For if Material, they must take up room. / And tract of Time would hoard up such a Crop, / The crowded Atoms would the Channels stop, / And choke the Passages of Vision up."

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

Date: 1691

"I cannot conceive the true Cause hereof [that Men of Learning are uncouth in their discourse], unless it be, that as Plants are Choakt by over-much Moisture, and Lamps are Stifl'd with too much Oil; so are the Actions of the Mind overwhelm'd by over-abundance of Matter and Study."

— Blount, Thomas Pope, Sir (1649-1697)

Date: Licens'd Decemb. 22. 1691

"His Incognita was rooted in his Heart, yet could he not Comfort himself with any Hopes when he should see her."

— Congreve, William (1670-1729)

Date: 1692

"I have, 'tis true, but to no purpose, retir'd to Oxford, to see if Books, and learned men would bring me any Relief, but I find Philosophy is of no power to root out a Passion that is once admitted, whatever it may to defend us from an Invasion."

— Gildon, Charles (1665-1724)

Date: 1692

"The Seeds of Prudence which are sow'd in humane Minds, when they are scatter'd in Woman, are invested with a contrary Nature so corrupted, that they produce Fruits quite different from the Original."

— Gildon, Charles (1665-1724)

Date: 1693

"Children, like tender Oziers, take the Bow, / And, as they first are fashion'd always grow."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700) [Poem ascribed to]

Date: 1693

"Why have I Learn'd, say'st thou, if thus confin'd, / I choak the Noble Vigour of my Mind? / Know, my wild Fig-Tree, which in Rocks is bred, / Will split the Quarry, and shoot out the Head, / Fine Fruits of Learning!"

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)