Date: 1726
"Reason alone is sufficient to govern a Rational Creature; which was therefore a Character we had no Pretence to challenge"
preview | full record— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)
Date: 1733
"Amurath himself was also in the Fleet, and and hearing that the Tunis Vessel was commanded by the Renegado Dragut, and that he had some young Men on board arm'd, and three Women, one of them an admirable Beauty, he made them all come on board his Ship. He presently knew Rosalinda, whose Picture ...
preview | full record— Morando, Bernardo (1589-1656); Gaspard-Moïse-Augustin de Fontanieu; Anonymous
Date: 1743
"Upon this, my Son Swane invaded the Coasts with several Ships, and committed many outragious Cruelties; which, indeed, did his business, as they served me to apply to the Fear of this King, which I had long since discovered to be his predominant Passion."
preview | full record— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)
Date: Published serially, 1765-1770
"[A]nd then it was that my Sins came crowding into my Mind, and I believe I was the only Person of the Ship's Company who trembled"
preview | full record— Brooke, Henry (c. 1703-1783)
Date: 1777
"You would not bid me adieu till the ship was getting under way: I believe you judged aright, if you meant to spare us both: the bustle of the scene, the rattling of the sails, the noise of the sailors, had a mechanical effect on the mind, and stifled those tender feelings, which we indulge in so...
preview | full record— Mackenzie, Henry (1745-1831)
Date: 1855, 1856
"Ah, these currents spin one's head round almost as much as they do the ship."
preview | full record— Melville, Herman (1819-1891)
Date: 1855, 1856
"'Ah, my dear Don Amasa,' Don Benito once said, 'at those very times when you thought me so morose and ungrateful--nay when, as you now admit, you half thought me plotting your murder--at those very times my heart was frozen; I could not look at you, thinking of what, both on board this ship and ...
preview | full record— Melville, Herman (1819-1891)
Date: 2000
"It's the medium-sized thoughts that jump ship in an emergency."
preview | full record— Edward St. Aubyn (b. 1960)