Date: 1715
"Thy Virtues flash, / They break at once on my astonish'd Soul; / As if the Curtains of the Dark were drawn, / To let in Day at Midnight."
preview | full record— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)
Date: 1717, 1736
"Dim lights of life that burn a length of years, / Useless, unseen, as lamps in sepulchres"
preview | full record— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)
Date: 1719, 1720
"For, says he, PUNS are like so many Torch-Lights in the Head, that give the Soul a very distinct View of those Images, which she before seemed to groap after as if she had been imprisoned in a Dungeon."
preview | full record— Sheridan, Thomas (1687-1738)
Date: w 1710, 1720
"Whilst like the Lamp's last Flame, their trembling Souls / Are on the Wing to leave their mortal Goals."
preview | full record— Ramsay, Allan (1684-1758)
Date: Friday, July 31, 1724
"The true Use of Titles, is, That they may serve, as shining Lights, to lay open and illustrate, the spacious Chambers of a Mind well-furnished."
preview | full record— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)
Date: Friday, July 31, 1724
"But, to a close, and sordid, Soul, they are like Torches, which we carry down, to illuminate a sickly Dungeon: Where they expose, but the more disgracefully, the narrow Cells, bare Walls; and Dirtiness."
preview | full record— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)
Date: 1734, 1753
"Were it a crime in flashing souls, to rise, / And strike each other thro' the meeting eyes; / Those op'ning windows had not let in light, / Nor stream'd ideas out, to voice the sight."
preview | full record— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)
Date: 1734
"The question is, how this Familiarity arises? and how the Cabinet comes to be sensible of any thing that's put into it? A Scritore knows nothing of the Papers which the careful Banker locks up in it? Or a Glass, tho' it may be said to receive the Image of a Beau, and he really sees somewhat of h...
preview | full record— Forbes of Pitsligo, Alexander Forbes, Lord (1678-1762)
Date: 1742
"From dreams, where Thought in Fancy's maze runs mad, / To reason, that heaven-lighted lamp in man, / Once more I wake; and at the destined hour, / Punctual as lovers to the moment sworn, / I keep my assignation with my woe."
preview | full record— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)
Date: w. 1740, 1748
"Thirsting for Knowledge, but to know the right, / Thro' judgment's optick guide th' illusive sight, / To let in rays on Reason's darkling cell, / And Prejudice's lagging mists dispel."
preview | full record— Walpole, Horatio [Horace], fourth earl of Orford (1717-1797)