Date: 1735, 1745

"Only to trifle sev'nty Years away / In this frail Flesh, this Tenement of Clay, / In Doubt, in Fear, in Sorrow, in Despair, / Then cease to be, and vanish into Air?"

— Trapp, Joseph (1679-1747)

Date: February 3, 1788

"The spirit of the Gospel 'proclaims liberty to the captive, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound:' but these men rivet the chains of slavery; 'the iron enters into the Negro's soul,' while while his mind is left in all the darkness of ignorance, without one ray of those comforts ...

— Agutter, William (1758-835)

Date: 1790

"In the deep caverns of Despair ye lay: / She, iron-hearted mother, never pressed / Your wasted forms with transport to her breast."

— Bowles, William Lisle (1762-1850)