Date: 1691

" And that it was the practice of Youth (who like the Sun oft rises clear and dancing, though he sets in a Cloud) to look upon distant Prospects with a magnifying Fancy, laying these weighty Matters together, I resolved now to ride at Anchor one seven years within the sound of Bow-Bell."

— Dunton, John (1659–1732)

Date: Licens'd Decemb. 22. 1691

"I burn and am consumed with hopeless Love; those Beams in whose soft temperate warmth I wanton'd heretofore, now flash destruction to my Soul, my Treacherous greedy Eyes have suck'd the glaring Light, they have united all its Rays, and, like a burning-Glass, Convey'd the pointed Meteor to-my Hea...

— Congreve, William (1670-1729)

Date: 1705

"Perhaps what seems to one Black, may seem to another of a different Colour; in short, we cannot absolutely determine whether or no the Eyes are not like Glasses differently cut, which after that manner changes the Colours of Objects."

— Manley, Delarivier (c. 1670-1724)

Date: 1708

"Besides, he has given an account of those several steps and degrees by which a Man is brought to this perfection; till his Soul is like a polish'd Looking-glass, in which he beholds the Truth: and then he swims in pleasure, and rejoyces exceedingly in his Mind, because of the impressions of Trut...

— Ockley, Simon (bap. 1679, d. 1720)

Date: 1708

"And then lastly, there are others, (represented by those Glasses, in our last comparison) in which the impressions of this Spirit are visible, and such we reckon all sorts of Animals. But then, as these smooth and polish'd Bodies which are of the same figure with the Sun [i.e. Spherical] do rece...

— Ockley, Simon (bap. 1679, d. 1720)

Date: 1708

"Now, when this Form prevails to such a degree that all others are nothing before it, but it remains alone, so as to consume, with the glory of its Light, whatsoever stands; in it's way; then it is properly compared to those Glasses, which reflect Light upon themselves, and burn every thing else;...

— Ockley, Simon (bap. 1679, d. 1720)

Date: 1713, 1719

"For in our Youth we commonly dress our Thoughts in the Mirrour of Self-Flattery, and expect that Heaven, Fortune, and the World, should cajole our Follies, as we do our own, and lay all Faults on others, and all Praise on our selves."

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

Date: 1722

"O! what a felicity is it to Mankind, said I, to myself, that they cannot see into the Hearts of one another!"

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1723

"Then we should refresh our fainting bodies with Food affording little Nourishment and Pleasure: That so our vain Affections, Appetites and Lusts, may gradually die; whilst the pure Mind revives, and being free from the gross Vapours arising from too much, and too fatt'ning Meats and Drinks, the ...

— Marana, Giovanni Paolo (1642-1693); Anonymous [William Bradshaw (fl. 1700) or Robert Midgley (1655?-1723)?]

Date: 1735

"He seemed therefore confident, that instead of Reason, we were only possessed of some Quality fitted to increase our natural Vices; as the Reflection from a troubled Stream returns the Image of an ill-shapen Body, not only larger, but more distorted."

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)