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: 1690

"Here satiate all your fury; / Let fortune empty her whole Quiver on me, / I have a Soul, that like an ample Shield / Can take in all; and verge enough for more."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1693

"Bracilla the Young, and the Charming, that had grown up on the Stage, amidst the perpetual Addresses of her Admirers, and yet seem'd insensible of all the Efforts of Love, as if Heaven had given her Charms to enflame the Heart, without any Compassion to Redress those Miseries her Eyes daily caus...

— Anonymous

Date: 1693

"Wine, my Lord the Count here, and I went behind the Scenes. Bracilla happen'd to Act that Night, the Wife of an Vnhappy Favourite, and look'd so Charming in the Expression, of all the Innocence and Passion, her part requir'd, that whilst she well represented Love without any, she fir'd my Heart ...

— Anonymous

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

"But this small Out-let to my Passion gave it but little ease, a thousand distracting Thoughts turn'd my Mind to e'ry side, not permitting it to fix on any thing, yet all tended to the Contrivance of the satisfaction of my too impatient desires."

— Anonymous

Date: 1693

"Ah, my Lord, (reply'd Montano) he that pretends to be a Lover, and at the same time to be govern'd by Reason, is but a Hypocrite."

— Anonymous