And seeing the snail, which everywhere doth roam,
Carrying his own house still, still is at home,
Follow (for he is easy paced) this snail,
Be thine own palace, or the world's thy gaol.
John Donne, 'To Sir Henry Wooton' (1597-8)
The year's at the spring
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hill-side's dew-pearled:
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in his heaven —
All's right with the world!
Robert Browning, 'Pippa Passes', (1841)
He, by degrees would seldom fail
T'adopt the gallop of a snail.
William Combe, 'Doctor Syntax in Search of a Wife.'(1821)
'Will you walk a little faster?' said a whiting to a snail,
'There's a porpoise close behind us, and he's treading on my tail.'
Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, (1865)