Date: 1742 [see first edition, 1733]

"The Mind, like a Tabula rasa, easyly receives the first Impression; and, like that, when the first Impression is deeply made, it with Difficulty admits of an Erasement of the first Characters, which in some Minds are indelible"

— Cooke, Thomas (1703-1756)

Date: 1733

"My head and heart thus flowing thro' my quill, / Verse-man or Prose-man, term me which you will."

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

Date: May 6, 1736

"Others, with equal truth and justice, have likened the Minds of Children to a rasa Tabula, or white Paper, whereon we may imprint, or write what Characters we please; which will prove so lasting, as not to be effaced without injuring or destroying the Beauty of the whole."

— Denne, John (1693-1767)

Date: May 6, 1736

"These first Characters therefore ought to be deeply and beautifully struck, and the Learning they express should be of great Price. And this, if timely Care be taken, may be done with ease because the Mind is then soft and tender: and because Truth and Right are by the nature of Things, as pleas...

— Denne, John (1693-1767)

Date: 1736

"That Ypre, which inspires the Lust of arbitrary Sway, now twisted its envenom'd Tail round the Heart of Eovaai; and, in an instant, erased all the Maxims the wise Eojaeu had endeavoured to establish there: so easy is it for the best Natures to be perverted, when Example rouses up the Sparks of s...

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

Date: 1736

"And as I am resolved, in spite of the Pleasure I take in gazing on them, to condemn myself to an eternal Absence, and to do every thing in my power to obliterate all Ideas from my Heart, that may render it an unworthy Offering to the Owner of this Jewel."

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

Date: 1736, 1743

In youth "Fancy's mimick Pow'r is warm and strong, / Engraving deeply, and retaining long"

— Wesley, Samuel, the Younger (1691-1739)

Date: February 1738

One may be " In State most desponding, by the Light of a Taper, / With Thoughts dull and dark as my Wax, or my Paper"

— Tickell, Thomas (1685-1740)

Date: 1739

"O name divine! / Be thou engraven on my inmost soul"

— Rowe [née Singer], Elizabeth (1674-1737)

Date: 1739

"My great Redeemer's name--transporting name! / 'Tis graven on my heart"

— Rowe [née Singer], Elizabeth (1674-1737)