Date: 1711

"And reflecting on what is transacted within us, it seems to me a very diverting Scene to think when we strive to recollect something that does not then occur; how nimbly those volatil Messengers of ours will beat through all the Paths, and hunt every Enclosure of the Organ set aside for thinking...

— Mandeville, Bernard (bap. 1670, d. 1733)

Date: 1712, 1796

"What home-bred mischief on himself could fall, / Which could a worthy mind more deeply gall?"

— Ellwood, Thomas (1639-1713)

Date: 1705, 1714, 1732

"This has often made me compare the Virtues of great Men to your large China Jars: they make a fine Shew, and are Ornamental even to a Chimney; one would by the Bulk they appear in, and the Value that is set upon 'em, think they might be very useful, but look into a thousand of them, and you'll f...

— Mandeville, Bernard (bap. 1670, d. 1733)

Date: 1705, 1714, 1732

"That Resolution depends upon this Tone of the Spirits, appears likewise from the effects of strong Liquors, the fiery Particles whereof crowding into the Brain, strengthen the Spirits; their Operation imitates that of Anger, which I said before was an Ebullition of the Spirits."

— Mandeville, Bernard (bap. 1670, d. 1733)

Date: 1719-1720, 1725

"Ill Genius, or that Devil, Curiosity, ... too much haunts the Minds of Women"

— Haywood [née Fowler], Eliza (1693?-1756)

Date: 1719-1720, 1725

"[W]here the interiour Beauties are consulted, and Souls are Devotees, is truly noble; Love there is a Divinity indeed, because he is immortal and unchangeable; and if our earthy part partake the Bliss, and craving Nature is in all obey'd; Possession thus desir'd, and thus obtain'd,...

— Haywood [née Fowler], Eliza (1693?-1756)

Date: 1723

"The Cells, and little Lodgings, Thou canst see / In Mem'ry's Hoards and secret Treasury; / Dost the dark Cave of each Idea spy, / And see'st how rang'd the crouded Lodgers lye; / How some, when beckon'd by the Soul, awake, / While peaceful Rest their uncall'd Neighbours take."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1723

"Tho' now, 'tis true, the strong Temptation's Force / Suspends Religion, and diverts its Course; / Yet still the Pow'r that chiefly rules your Soul, / And will I trust your future Life controul, / Is heav'nly Virtue, which, tho' now opprest / It sleeps a while unactive in your Breast, / Will, rou...

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1723

"Neither cou'd our Spy, considering his Education in the Mahometan Religion, take a properer Method, in my Opinion, to disengage himself from the Legends of the Nursery, and Fables of the Schools, (as a great man calls our Infant Idea's of things) than to follow the Counsel of his beloved des Car...

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

Date: 1724-6

"Even the men of business, who are really so when in London; whether it be at the Exchange, the Alley, or the Treasury-Offices, and the Court; yet here they look as if they had left all their London thoughts behind them, and had separated themselves to mirth and good company; as if they came hith...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)