The rest to some faint meaning make pretence, But Shadwell never deviates into sense. Some beams of wit on other souls may fall, Strike through and make a lucid interval; But Shadwell's genuine night admits no ray, His rising fogs prevail upon the day.

-Dryden,John
  MacFlecknoe (published1682), l.19^24.

   If ever I do a mean action, it must be in some interval betwixt one passion and another.

-Sterne, Laurence
  A SentimentalJourney,'Montriul'.

There was a heated division of opinion in the lobbies during the interval but a small conservative majority took the view that it might be as well to remain in the theatre.

-Tynan, Kenneth
  Reviewing the play The Glorious Days.