Date: 1691

"What shou'd I tell you of his Soul, since his Body is the very Picture on't, and if you know one, you can't miss o' t'other among a thousand: 'Tis like Gresham-Colledge, or the Anatomy-School at Leyden, hung round with a thousand Knick-knacks that rambled thither, some of 'em half the World...

— Dunton, John (1659–1732)

Date: 1705

"It is not to be doubted but that these things, altho' purely material, contribute to the Beauty and Nicety of Wit, because the Soul, when it is enclos'd in the Body, depends on the Organs, and those, when well dispos'd, are of much greater Aid to it in the performance of its Duty. Suppose a Pain...

— Manley, Delarivier (c. 1670-1724)

Date: 1741 [1740]; continued in 1741

"And all this time improve myself too, not only in Science, but in Nature, by tracing in the little Babes what all Mankind are, and have been, from Infancy to riper Years"

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)

Date: 1751

"She slept longer than usual the next Morning, and it seemed as if some golden Dream was pictured in her Fancy"

— Coventry, (William) Francis Walter (1725-1753/4)

Date: 1752

"What a Happiness have you painted to my Imagination!"

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

Date: 1796

"At the same time the cloud disappeared, and he beheld a figure more beautiful than fancy's pencil ever drew."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1992

"Even more important to David than the very natural worry that his wife and his son might grow fond of one another was the intoxicating feeling that he had a blank consciousness to work with, and it gave him great pleasure to knead this yielding clay with his artistic thumbs."

— Edward St. Aubyn (b. 1960)

Date: 2005

"The van emerged into the scene; men emerged from it and the whole event emerged, like a photo emerging. I didn't even need to see it. I closed my eyes and let it all develop in my mind."

— McCarthy, Tom (b. 1969)

Date: 2009

"He had in fact retained a vivid mental picture of Emma from that night, lying on the single bed, naked except for the skirt around her waist, her arms thrown up above her head as they kissed."

— Nicholls, David (b. 1966)