Date: 1700, 1702

"Thought is Damnation, 'tis the Plague of Devils. / To think on what they are! and see this Weapon / Shall shield me from it, plunge me in forgetfulness. / Er'e the dire Scorpion Thought can rouse to sting me."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

Date: November 25, 1707; 1708

"Now, now it shoots, / It tow'rs upon the Wing to Crowns and Empire; / While Love and Aribert, those meaner Names, / Are left far, far behind, and lost for ever. / So if by chance the Eagle's noble Off-spring, / Ta'en in the Nest, becomes some Peasant's Prize, / Compell'd a while he bears his Cag...

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

Date: November 25, 1707; 1708

"In vain they lavish all their cruel Arts, / And bind this feeble Body here in vain; / The free, impassive Soul mounts on the Wing, / Beyond the reach of Racks, and tort'ring Flames, / And scorns their Tyranny."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

Date: November 25, 1707; 1708

"Call back your Thoughts from each deluding Passion, / And wing your parting Soul for her last Flight."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

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: 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)