Date: 1744, 1772, 1795

"Whence is this effect, / This kindred power of such discordant things? /Or flows their semblance from that mystic tone / To which the new-born mind's harmonious powers / At first were strung? Or rather from the links / Which artful custom twines around her frame?"

— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)

Date: 1744, 1772, 1795

"'Twas thus, if ancient fame the truth unfold, / Two faithful needles, from the informing touch / Of the same parent-stone, together drew / Its mystic virtue, and at first conspir'd / With fatal impulse quivering to the pole."

— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)

Date: 1744, 1772, 1795

"The hand of nature on peculiar minds / Imprints a different byass, and to each / Decrees its province in the common toil."

— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)

Date: 1744, 1772, 1795

"So the glad impulse of congenial powers, / Or of sweet sound, or fair proportion'd form, / The grace of motion, or the bloom of light, / Thrills through imagination's tender frame, / From nerve to nerve: all naked and alive / They catch the spreading rays: till now the soul / At length discloses...

— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)

Date: 1744, 1772, 1795

"Then the inexpressive strain / Diffuses its inchantment: fancy dreams / Of sacred fountains and Elysian groves, / And vales of bliss: the intellectual power / Bends from his awful throne a wondering ear, / And smiles: the passions, gently sooth'd away, / Sink to divine repose, and love and joy /...

— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)

Date: 1744, 1772, 1795

"Where virtue, rising from the awful depth / Of truth's mysterious bosom, doth forsake / The unadorn'd condition of her birth; / And dress'd by fancy in ten thousand hues, / Assumes a various feature, to attract, / With charms responsive to each gazer's eye, / The hearts of men."

— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)

Date: 1744, 1772, 1795

"From the blooming store / Of these auspicious fields, may I unblam'd / Transplant some living blossoms to adorn / My native clime: while far above the flight / Of fancy's plume aspiring, I unlock / The springs of ancient wisdom; while I join / Thy name, thrice honour'd! with the immortal praise ...

— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)

Date: 1744, 1772, 1795

"What? like a storm from their capacious bed / The sounding seas o'erwhelming, when the might / Of these eruptions, working from the depth / Of man's strong apprehension, shakes his frame / Even to the base; from every naked sense / Of pain or pleasure dissipating all / Opinion's feeble coverings...

— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)

Date: 1744, 1772, 1795

"Passion's fierce illapse / Rouzes the mind's whole fabric; with supplies / Of daily impulse keeps the elastic powers / Intensely poiz'd, and polishes anew / By that collision all the fine machine: / Else rust would rise, and foulness, by degrees / Incumbering, choak at last what heaven design'd ...

— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)

Date: 1744, 1772, 1795

"Then listen while my tongue / The unalter'd will of heaven with faithful awe / Reveals; what old Harmodius wont to teach / My early age; Harmodius, who had weigh'd / Within his learned mind whate'er the schools / Of wisdom, or thy lonely-whispering voice, / O faithful nature! dictate of the laws...

— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)