Date: 1700

"Better the Mind no Notions had retain'd, / But still a fair Unwritten Blank remain'd; / For now, who Truth from Falshood wou'd discern; / must first disrobe the Mind, and all Unlearn."

— Pomfret, John (1667-1702)

Date: 1705

"In Characters of Malice, Pride, and Fraud, / Stamp'd on his Mind, my Image I applaud."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1705

" In Characters of Malice, Pride, and Fraud, / Stamp'd on his Mind, my Image I applaud."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1712

"The ready Phantomes at her Nod advance, / And form the busie Intellectual Dance: / While her fair Scenes to vary, or supply, / She singles out fit Images, that lye / In Memory's Records, which faithful hold / Objects immense in secret Marks inroll'd, / The sleeping Forms at her Command awake, / ...

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1714

"[F]oul Reproches ignominious Stain, / Sate deep engraven in his fearfull Heart,"

— Croxall, Samuel (1688/9-1752); Nestor Ironside

Date: 1714

"What iron Breast so hard that can endure / To work such Spight on Vertuous Innocence?"

— Croxall, Samuel (1688/9-1752); Nestor Ironside

Date: 1714

The Soul returns "Naked from off this Beach and perfect Blank, / To visit the New World."

— Evans, Abel (1679-1737)

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: 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)