Date: 1755

Fancy "is engender'd in the eyes, / With gazing fed and fancy dies/ In the cradle where it lies."

— Shakespeare [from Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language]

Date: 1766

"Fancy leads the fetter'd senses / Captives to her fond controul; / Merit may have rich pretences, / But 'tis Fancy fires the soul."

— Cunningham, John (1729-1773)

Date: 1766

"Far beyond the bonds of meaning / Fancy flies, a Fairy queen!"

— Cunningham, John (1729-1773)

Date: 1775

"Before the queen an oval mirror stands, / The curious labor of her active hands; / Ample its size; of wondrous texture wrought; / With pow'r endu'd, surpassing human thought."

— Rack, Edmund (1735-1787)

Date: 1775

"On this deceptive mirror FANCY gaz'd; / For in its field she saw whate'er she pleas'd: / Whate'er in thought her fertile brain design'd, / (The varying labours of her changeful mind,) / Whate'er she wills, within its orb she spies, / True to her wish the airy visions rise."

— Rack, Edmund (1735-1787)

Date: 1793

"Silent, for ever cold!--Renew, renew / Thy plaint, that well might rend a heart of steel!"

— Kendall, William (1768-1832)

Date: 1799

In Fancy's "filial train," inspiration rides foremost and "Myriads of spruce ideas crowd the rear."

— Grainger, James (1721-1766)

Date: 1820

"Open wide the mind's cage-door, / She'll dart forth, and cloudward soar."

— Keats, John (1795-1821)

Date: 1820

"Then let winged Fancy wander / Through the thought still spread beyond her:"

— Keats, John (1795-1821)

Date: 1820

"Fancy, high-commission'd:--send her! / She has vassals to attend her."

— Keats, John (1795-1821)