Date: w. 1788-93, 1796 (rev. 1815, 1827, 1837, 1897)
"My personal freedom had been somewhat impaired by the House of Commons and the Board of Trade; but I was now delivered from the chain of duty and dependence, from the hopes and fears of political adventure: my sober mind was no longer intoxicated by the fumes of party, and I rejoiced in my escap...
preview | full record— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)
Date: w. 1788-93, 1796 (rev. 1815, 1827, 1837, 1897)
"By many, conversation is esteemed as a theatre or a school: but, after the morning has been occupied by the labours of the library, I wish to unbend rather than to exercise my mind; and in the interval between tea and supper I am far from disdaining the innocent amusement of a game at cards."
preview | full record— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)
Date: 1802
"Blest mirror! which can thus, with magic pow'r, / Give the rank weed the fragrance of the flow'r; / And from deformities,--without, within, / Spots in the mind, or specks upon the skin-- / Can all that's good, and all that's fair reflect, / And change to beauty, every dark defect."
preview | full record— Pratt, Samuel Jackson [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749-1814)
Date: 1814, 1816, 1896
"How then should matron Mind, with filial fear, / Judge all the embryo thoughts engender'd there"
preview | full record— Woodhouse, James (bap. 1735, d. 1820)