Date: 1708

"Passions are too hurrying to last; Vapours that start from a Mercurial Brain, whose wild Chimera's flush the lighter Faculties, which tir'd i'th' vain pursuit of fancy'd Pleasures."

— Baker, Thomas (b. 1680-1)

Date: 1714

"His ductile Reason will be wound about, / Be led and turn'd again, say and unsay, / Receive the Yoak, and yeild exact Obedience."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

Date: 1714

"'Tis all in vain, this Rage that tears thy Bosom, / Like a poor Bird that flutters in its Cage, / Thou beat'st thy self to Death."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

Date: 1715

"Close, like a Dragon folded in his Den, / Some secret Venom preys upon his Heart."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

Date: 1715

"Shall thy Soul / Still scorn the World, still flie the Joys that court / Thy blooming Beauty, and thy tender Youth? / Still shall she soar on Contemplation's Wing, / And mix with nothing meaner than the Stars; / As Heaven and Immortality alone / Were Objects worthy to employ her Faculties."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

Date: 1717

"So very well Sweetheart; I am mightily troubled with Phlegm--od I took it a little too high for my Constitution, but every time I look upon you, I fancy my self but Eighteen, and my Heart springs in my Belly like a Bird in a Cage."

— Bullock, Christopher (bap. 1690, d. 1722)

Date: First performed February 17, 1720.

"No more--thou waken'st in my tortur'd Heart / The cruel conscious Worm that stings to Madness. / O I'm undone!--I know it, and can bear / To be undone for thee, but not to lose thee."

— Hughes, John (1678?-1720)

Date: April 18, 1721

"If thou dost love me, I shall fill thy Heart / With Scorpion's Stings."

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)

Date: April 18, 1721

"Oh, what a Pain to think! when every Thought, / Perplexing Thought in Intricacies runs, / And Reason knits th'inextricable Toil / In which her self is taken. I am lost, / Poor Insect that I am, I am involv'd, / And bury'd in the Web my self have wrought."

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)

Date: April 18, 1721

"Can I not rouze the Snake that's in his Bosom, / To Sting out human Nature, and effect it?"

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)