Date: 1594

"O, that delightful engine of her thoughts, / That blabbed them with such pleasing eloquence, / Is torn from forth that pretty hollow cage / Where, like a sweet melodious bird, it sung / Sweet varied notes, enchanting every ear."

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Date: 1673

"The methodical Block-head that is as regular as a Clock, and as little knows why he is so, is the man cut out by Nature and Fortune for business and government."

— Shadwell, Thomas (1642-1692)

Date: 1676

The understanding argues before the will can choose and "the last Dictate of the Judgment sways / The Will, as in a Balance, the last Weight / Put in the Scale, lifts up the other end"

— Shadwell, Thomas (1642-1692)

Date: 1680

"'Tis an Error as groundless as Vulgar, to think that there goes no more to the furnishing a Poet, than a Wind-mill in the Head, a Stream of Tattle, and convenient Confidence; whereas no Exercise of the Soul requires a more compos'd Thought, more sparingness of Words, more Modesty and Caution in ...

— Tate, Nahum (c. 1652-1715)

Date: 1706

"Ah, my Life's dear Guardian, methinks now you are here, my Heart has Warmth again, and active Motion which, lately like a worn-out Clock, had none."

— D'Urfey, Thomas (1653?-1723)

Date: 1714

"Have you examin'd / Into your inmost Heart, and try'd at leisure / The several secret Springs that move the Passions? / Has Mercy fix'd her Empire there so sure, / That Wrath and Vengeance never may return?"

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

Date: 1757

"I only told him civilly, Past three o'clock and a cloudy morning!-- [...] --when, heyday! says he, (there he stands, let 'en deny it if he can) and coming up to me--what have we here?-- a human Clock!--a very odd kind of Repeater upon my soul!--one of the hours 'egad strolling about, in a...

— Bacon, Phanuel (1700-1783)

Date: 1766

"My dear Louisa, your watch and your passions keep pace; it wants some minutes of seven; but I cou'd wish from my heart, that almost any accident might prevent this meeting"

— Griffith, Elizabeth (1720-1793)