Date: January 29, 1708

"[I]f thou wilt prolong / Dire Compotation, forthwith Reason quits / Her Empire to Confusion, and Misrule, / And vain Debates"

— Philips, John (1676-1709)

Date: 1684, 1717

"Fancy sits Queen of all; / While the poor under-Faculties resort, / And to her fickle Majesty make Court"

— Duke, Richard (1658-1711)

Date: 1684, 1717

The understanding is first to pay court to Queen Fancy, "plainly clad,
But usefully; no Ent'rance to be had"

— Duke, Richard (1658-1711)

Date: 1684, 1717

The Will, "that Bully of the Mind," is next to pay court to Queen Fancy: "Follies wait on him in a Troop behind; / He meets Reception from the Antick Queen, / Who thinks her Majesty's most honour'd, when / Attended by those fine drest Gentlemen"

— Duke, Richard (1658-1711)

Date: 1684, 1717

"Reason, the honest Counsellor, this knows, / And into Court with res'lute Virtue goes; / Lets Fancy see her loose irregular Sway, / Then how the flattering Follies sneak away!"

— Duke, Richard (1658-1711)

Date: 1723, 1740

"My Sister weeping! Tho' her Reason governs, / I judge her Grief for Cassius, by my own."

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

Date: 1749

"With distant Voice neglected Virtue calls, / Less heard, and less the faint Remonstrance falls; / Tir'd with Contempt, she quits the slipp'ry Reign, / And Pride and Prudence take her Seat in vain."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: Saturday, August 25, 1750

In "the seats of innocence and tranquility ... where I should see reason exerting her sovereignty over life, without any interruption from envy, avarice, or ambition, and every day passing in such a manner as the severest wisdom should approve."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: Tuesday, April 24, 1750

"Those sudden bursts of rage generally break out upon small occasions; for life, unhappy as it is, cannot supply great evils as frequently as the man of fire thinks it fit to be enraged; therefore the first reflection upon his violence must shew him that he is mean enough to be driven from his po...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: Tuesday, May 15, 1750

"But, if any passion has so much usurped our understanding, as not to suffer us to enjoy advantages with the moderation prescribed by reason, it is not too late to apply this remedy, when we find ourselves sinking under sorrow, and inclined to pine for that which is irrecoverably vanished."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)