Date: 1745

"A race fantastick, in whose page you see / Untutor'd fancy, a meer Jeu d'Esprit: / Wit's shatter'd mirror lies in fragments bright, / Reflects not nature, but confounds the sight."

— Brown, John (1715-1766)

Date: 1746, 1793

Happiness may "Dart thro' my soul one chearful ray"

— Blacklock, Thomas (1721-1791)

Date: 1746

"As the great light that rules the radiant sphere, / The passions of a generous mind extend"

— Ruffhead, James

Date: 1746

The "heart of man" may be probed with the Muse's microscope

— Ruffhead, James

Date: 1746

The "light of reason's ray" may be extinguished

— Ruffhead, James

Date: 1746

Words may make the soul glow with rapture

— Ruffhead, James

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."

— Walpole, Horatio [Horace], fourth earl of Orford (1717-1797)

Date: 1749

"Nature's bright Mirrour in thy Bosom shone"

— Jones, Henry (1721-1770)

Date: 1750, 1770

"And, Morpheus, thus may thy mild Lethéan powers, / For ever hovering round my midnight hours, / Thro' Fancy's mirror wrap me in idéal joy."

— Hamilton, William Gerard (1729-1796)

Date: 1750

"A mind in wisdom old, in lenience young, / From fervent truth where every virtue sprung; / Where all was real, modest, plain, sincere; / Worth above show, and goodness unsevere: / View'd round and round, as lucid diamonds throw / Still as you turn them a revolving glow, / So did his mind reflect...

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)