His best companions, innocence and health;

And his best riches, ignorance of wealth.

Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774): The Deserted Village. Line 61.

When faith is kneeling by his bed of death,

And innocence is closing up his eyes,

Now if thou wouldst, when all have given him over,

From death to life thou might'st him yet recover.

Michael Drayton (1563-1631): Ideas. An Allusion to the Eaglets. lxi.

An age that melts in unperceiv'd decay,

And glides in modest innocence away.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784): Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 293.

Her wit was more than man, her innocence a child.

John Dryden (1631-1701): Elegy on Mrs. Killegrew. Line 70.

O Mirth and Innocence! O milk and water!

Ye happy mixtures of more happy days.

Lord Byron 1788-1824: Beppo. Stanza 80.

The spinsters and the knitters in the sun

And the free maids that weave their thread with bones

Do use to chant it: it is silly sooth,

And dallies with the innocence of love,

Like the old age.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Twelfth Night. Act ii. Sc. 4.

Plain living and high thinking are no more.

The homely beauty of the good old cause

Is gone; our peace, our fearful innocence,

And pure religion breathing household laws.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850): O Friend! I know not which way I must look.