Date: 1796

"Some hurt themselves by flippant WIT, / As too much GAS, balloons will split;-- / With buoyant splendour, up they rise, / The spirit bursts, the bubble dies."

— Courtenay, John Lees (1775?-1794)

Date: 1796

"By Locke, true WIT is best defin'd, / Her pleasant pictures lure the mind; / Associations sudden rise, / And seize the fancy by surprise."

— Courtenay, John Lees (1775?-1794)

Date: 1796

"The effect [of wit on the mind] is strong,--because it's odd, / Like fire electric from a clod; / Or when fix'd air puts out a light, / Tho' vital makes it blaze more bright."

— Courtenay, John Lees (1775?-1794)

Date: 1796

"Discordant tho' the ideas be, / In Fancy's logic they agree; / As in the Ark by special grace, / Mice liv'd with Cats, yet throve apace."

— Courtenay, John Lees (1775?-1794)

Date: w. 1788-93, 1796 (rev. 1815, 1827, 1837, 1897)

"But Nature had designed him to think as he pleased, and to speak as he thought: his piety was offended by the excessive worship of creatures; and the study of physics convinced him of the impossibility of transubstantiation, which is abundantly refuted by the testimony of our senses."

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: 1796

"Pervious to every beam, transparent Glass / Gives to the eye, all objects as they pass: / So the clear Soul, when justice claims her due, / Or honour calls,--sets all within, to view."

— Bishop, Samuel (1731-1795)

Date: 1796

"The trial is dangerous; he is just at that period of life when the passions are most vigorous, unbridled, and despotic."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"He thought of his union with Antonia; he thought of the obstacles which might oppose his wishes; and a thousand changing visions floated before his fancy, sad 'tis true, but not unpleasing."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"Who but myself has passed the ordeal of youth, yet sees no single stain upon his conscience?"

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"No longer sustained by the violence of his passions, he feels all the monotony of his way of living, and his heart becomes the prey of ennui and weariness."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)