Date: 1781, 1791

"Hence rash Belief! may thy wild thoughts again / Ne'er thro the cells of busy fancy rove!"

— Downman, Hugh (1740-1809)

Date: 1781, 1791

"If haply human passions swell, / And shake awhile their peaceful cell, / They strive with idle force"

— Downman, Hugh (1740-1809)

Date: 1781, 1791

"Or when the burnish'd car by Phoebus roll'd, / Darts more intense it's rays of liquid gold, / Beneath some ivy-fringed cave reclined, / Fancy's bright visions rushing on thy mind, / With spirits bland, nursed by the genial powers, / Soothest with melodious notes the sultry hours!"

— Downman, Hugh (1740-1809)

Date: 1781

"When love is fetter'd, all is fire, / And tender passion soon decays; / Like those sweet birds which soon expire, / When we wou'd force their tuneful lays."

— Whalley, Thomas Sedgwick (1746-1828)

Date: 1782

"But what is man in his own proud esteem? / Hear him, himself the poet and the theme: / A monarch clothed with majesty and awe, / His mind his kingdom, and his will his law, / Grace in his mien and glory in his eyes, / Supreme on Earth and worthy of the skies, / Strength in his heart, dominion in...

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

Books may adorn one's "intellects as well as shelves"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

"His passions tamed and all at his control, / How perfect the composure of his soul!"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

Complacency may breath a gentle gail over the thoughts and swell an "easy sail"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

"Let heathen worthies, whose exalted mind / Left sensuality and dross behind, / Possess for me their undisputed lot"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

Time is a river that fails to enrich the mind and "leaves a dreary waste behind"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)