Date: 1680

"'Tis an Error as groundless as Vulgar, to think that there goes no more to the furnishing a Poet, than a Wind-mill in the Head, a Stream of Tattle, and convenient Confidence; whereas no Exercise of the Soul requires a more compos'd Thought, more sparingness of Words, more Modesty and Caution in ...

— Tate, Nahum (c. 1652-1715)

Date: 1706

"Ah, my Life's dear Guardian, methinks now you are here, my Heart has Warmth again, and active Motion which, lately like a worn-out Clock, had none."

— D'Urfey, Thomas (1653?-1723)

Date: 1743

"Though grey our heads, our thoughts and aims are green; / Like damaged clocks, whose hand and bell dissent; / Folly sings six, while Nature points at twelve."

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)

Date: 1743

"That thought is the machine, / The grand machine that heaves us from the dust, / And rears us into men!"

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)

Date: 1745

"There is, I grant, a triumph of the pulse, / A dance of spirits, a mere froth of joy, / Our thoughtless Agitation's idle child, / That mantles high, that sparkles, and expires, / Leaving the soul more vapid than before; / An animal ovation! such as holds / No commerce with our reason, but subsis...

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)