Date: Licens'd Decemb. 22. 1691

"And with reverence be it spoken, and the Parallel kept at due distance, there is something of equality in the Proportion which they bear in reference to one another, with that between Comedy and Tragedy; but the Drama is the long extracted from Romance and History: 'tis the Midwife to Industry, ...

— Congreve, William (1670-1729)

Date: 1693

"Not so, I beseech you, Madam, (answer'd I) rather than lose the Happiness of your Conversation, I'll curb my forward Heart, that is unwilling to let me talk of any thing but its wounds."

— Anonymous

Date: 1693

"In short, Madam, you must be less Fair, or not banish Love from the severe and wise, for as long as you have those killing Eyes, those charming Lips, that graceful Person, all that you can say, will be no better defence, against the Darts they cast, than an Harangue against War, wou'd keep a Sou...

— Anonymous

Date: 1693

"A thousand Tortures perplex'd my Mind, and Love, tho' so lately born, was grown up already, to the heigth of impatience: To ease my mind a little, I set my self to writing, and made these Verses on my departure from Bracilla."

— Anonymous

Date: 1693

"Each day he came to her to seek a cure for those Wounds she had made in his tender Bosome, and each day he enlarg'd 'em, by beholding the relentless cause of all his sufferings; which were now arriv'd to that heighth, that he was neither able to bear 'em, nor yet knew how to remove them."

— Anonymous

Date: 1693

"So much the unhappier I (reply'd Montano) who am depriv'd of all means of obtaining Bracilla, tho her Embraces alone can cure my tortur'd Soul."

— Anonymous

Date: 1696

"Love's a Fever of the Mind, which nothing but our own wishes can asswage, and I don't Question but we shall find Marriage a very cooling Cordial."

— Cibber, Colley (1671-1757)

Date: 1702 [but see also earlier editions 1648, 1651]

"Thy Paradise, thro' whose fair Hills of Joy / Those Springs of everlasting Vigor range, / Which make Souls drunk with Heav'n, which cleanse away / All Earth from Dust, and Flesh to Spirit change."

— Beaumont, Joseph (1616-1699)

Date: 1703

"Distorted Nature shakes at the Controul, / With strong Convulsions rends my strugling Soul; / Each vital String cracks with th' unequal Strife, / Departing Love racks like departing Life; / Yet there the Sorrow ceases with the Breath, / But Love each day renews th' torturing scene of Death."

— Egerton [née Fyge; other married name Field], Sarah (1670-1723)