Date: 1727

"It is without Doubt, that Fancy and Imagination form a world of Apparitions in the Minds of Men and Women; (for we must not exclude the Ladies in this Part, whatever we do) and People go away as thoroughly possess'd with the Reality of having seen the Devil, as if they convers'd Face to Face wit...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1741-2

"When no malignant fever fires the brain, / And health luxuriant revels in each vein, / Tho' sunk in sloth, from all diseases free, / In dropsies, you will run to Reeve or Lee."

— Gilbert, Thomas (bap. 1713, d. 1766)

Date: 1744, 1772, 1795

"Else wherefore burns / In mortal bosoms this unquenched hope, / That breathes from day to day sublimer things, / And mocks possession?"

— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)

Date: 1751

"Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid / Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire."

— Gray, Thomas (1716-1771)

Date: 1755

Affections may seem benumbed or may take take fire

— Hooker [from Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language]

Date: 1756, 1793

"My heart is pregnant, and my soul on fire"

— Blacklock, Thomas (1721-1791)