Date: 1685
"These bugbears of the mind, this inward hell, / No rays of outward sunshine can dispel; / But nature and right reason must display / Their beams abroad, and bring the darksome soul to day."
preview | full record— Dryden, John (1631-1700)
Date: 1697
"But he Employ'd to set their Judgments right, / No Force but Reason's mild but powerful Light."
preview | full record— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Date: 1697
"Oh, let no groundless Prejudice oppose / The Light, that from so pure a Fountain flows. / May these kind Beams dispel the Clouds, and find / An unobstructed Passage to your Mind."
preview | full record— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Date: 1697
"Then climbs the Mind to the first glorious Cause, / And his bright Image by this Model draws. / Freedom of Choice, pure Intellectual Light, / Power Independent, Goodness Infinite, / To form the great Idea we unite."
preview | full record— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Date: 1700
"The Lamp of Life burns dimly in my Breast, / Soon from its beating toil my weary Heart will rest."
preview | full record— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Date: 1700, 1717
"He, tho' from Heav'n remote, to Heav'n cou'd move, / With Strength of Mind, and tread th' Abyss above; / And penetrate with his interior Light / Those upper Depths, which Nature hid from Sight"
preview | full record— Dryden, John (1631-1700)