Date: 1735, 1763

"'Midst foreign objects not employ'd to roam, / Thought, sadly active, still corrodes at home."

— Melmoth, William, the younger (bap. 1710, d. 1799)

Date: 1735, 1763

"But equal passions let his bosom rule, / A judgment candid, and a temper cool, / Enlarg'd with knowledge, and in conscience clear, / Above life's empty hopes, and death's vain fear."

— Melmoth, William, the younger (bap. 1710, d. 1799)

Date: 1735, 1763

"Our lives like his in one smooth current flow, / Nor swell'd with tempest, nor too calmly slow, / Whilst he like some great sage of Rome or Greece, / Shall calm each rising doubt and speak us peace, / Correct each thought, each wayward wish controul, / And stamp with every virtue all the soul."

— Melmoth, William, the younger (bap. 1710, d. 1799)

Date: 1735, 1763

"Unnumber'd fears corrode and haunt his breast, / With all that whim or ign'rance can suggest."

— Melmoth, William, the younger (bap. 1710, d. 1799)

Date: 1764, 1773

"But thou, my friend! while in thy youthful soul / Love's gentle tyrant seats his aweful throne, / Write from thy bosom--let not art controul / The ready pen, that makes his edicts known."

— Shenstone, William (1714-1763)

Date: 1776

"Oft let remembrance sooth his mind / With dreams of former days, / When in the lap of Peace reclined / He framed his infant lays; / When Fancy roved at large, nor Care / Nor cold Distrust alarm'd, / Nor Envy with malignant glare / His simple youth had harm'd."

— Beattie, James (1735-1803)

Date: 1782

"As woodbine weds the plants within her reach, / Rough elm, or smooth-grain'd ash, or glossy beech, / In spiral rings ascends the trunk, and lays / Her golden tassels on the leafy sprays, / But does a mischief while she lends a grace, / Straitening its growth by such a strict embrace, / So love t...

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

"Rough annoyance" may rankle in the mind

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

Reveries are "flimsy webs that break as soon as wrought" and don't attain "to the dignity of thought"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

In polishing the mind, Luxury gives it a "childish cast"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)