Date: 1735, 1763

"Far as th' Almighty stretch'd his utmost line, / He pierc'd in thought, and view'd the vast design."

— Melmoth, William, the younger (bap. 1710, d. 1799)

Date: 1735, 1763

"'Midst foreign objects not employ'd to roam, / Thought, sadly active, still corrodes at home."

— Melmoth, William, the younger (bap. 1710, d. 1799)

Date: 1735-6

"His mental eye first launch'd into the deeps of boundless ether; where unnumber'd orbs, / Myriads on myriads, through the pathless sky / Unerring roll, and wind their steady way."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1735

"God gave us Reason ... A faithful guide to comfort and to save, / Till the mind floats, like Peter on the wave."

— Harte, Walter (1708/9-1774)

Date: 1737

"As Years advance, th'abated Soul in most / Sinks to low Ebb, in second Childhood lost; / And feeble Age, dishonouring our Kind, / Robs all the Treasures of the wasted Mind"

— Hughes, Jabez (1685-1731)

Date: 1727, 1739

"My Heart, no Stranger to the Guest [Love], / Flutter'd, and labour'd in my Breast"

— Broome, William (1689-1745); Hesiod

Date: 1742

"Its reign will spread thy glorious conquests far, / And still the tumults of thy ruffled breast: / Auspicious era! golden days, begin!"

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)

Date: 1742

"At home a stranger, / Thought wanders up and down, surprised, aghast, / And wondering at her own."

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)

Date: 1742

"A soul immortal, spending all her fires, / Wasting her strength in strenuous idleness, / Thrown into tumult, raptured, or alarm'd, / At aught this scene can threaten, or indulge, / Resembles ocean into tempest wrought, / To waft a feather, or to drown a fly."

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)

Date: 1743

"This wings its Way to its Almighty Source, / The Witness of its Actions, now its Judge: / That drops into the dark and noisome Grave, / Like a disabled Pitcher of no Use."

— Blair, Robert (1699-1746)