Date: 1647

"False Coin with which th'Impostor cheats us still; / The Stamp and Colour good, but Metal ill!"

— Cowley, Abraham (1618-1667)

Date: 1684

"Since Harmony, like Fire to VVax, does fit / The softned Heart Impressions to admit."

— Behn, Aphra (1640?-1689)

Date: 1687

"Our Souls are in one mutual Knot combin'd, / Not Common Passion, Dull and Unrefin'd"

— Ayres, Philip (1638-1712)

Date: 1689

And yet there is, there is one prize / Lock'd in an adamantine Breast; / Storm that then, Love, if thou be'st wise, / A Conquest above all the rest, / Her Heart, who binds all Hearts in chains, / Castanna's Heart untouch'd remains."

— Cotton, Charles (1630-1687)

Date: 1693

"New-minted Mischeifs rumble in his brain, / Each false Stamp'd Coin is melted down again, / 'Till refin'd Fancy fix'd on Woman."

— Ames, Richard (bap. 1664?, d. 1692)

Date: 1702

When Reason's "Pow'r is Despicable grown, / And Rebel Appetites Usurp my Throne, / The Soul no longer quiet Thoughts enjoys; / But all is Tumult, and Eternal Noise."

— Pomfret, John (1667-1702)

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)

Date: 1707

"Why should we vex and grieve his love, / Who seals our souls to heavenly life?"

— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)

Date: 1714, 1735

" What cruel Dæmon haunts my tortur'd Mind? / Sure, if 'twere Love, I shou'd th'Invader find;"

— Hughes, John (1678?-1720)

Date: 1717

"I render back the Treasure of thy Heart: / When in some new fair Breast it finds a Room, And I shall lie neglected in my Tomb; / Remember, oh! remember, the fair She / Can never love thee, darling Youth! like me."

— Behn, Aphra (1640?-1689)