Date: 1744, 1746

"Wide-stretching from these shores, / A people savage from remotest time, / A huge neglected empire, one vast mind, / By Heaven inspired, from gothic darkness call'd."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1745

Chiefly one Charm / He in his graceful Character observes: / That tho' his Passions burn with high Impatience, / And sometimes, from a noble Heat of Nature, / Are ready to fly off, yet the least Check / Of ruling Reason brings them back to Temper, / And gentle Softness."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1745

"But from my Soul to banish, / While weeping Memory there retains her Seat, / Thoughts which the purest Bosom might have cherish'd, / Once my Delight, now even in Anguish charming, / Is more, alas! my Lord, than I can promise."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1745

"The Man, whom Heaven appoints / To govern others, should himself first learn / To bend his Passions to the Sway of Reason."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1745

"But now not all my partial Heart can plead, / Shall ever shake th' unalterable Dictates / That tyrannize my Breast."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1745

"Behold the fatal Work of my dark Hand, / That by rude Force the Passions would command, / That ruthless sought to root them from the Breast; / They may be rul'd, but will not be opprest."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1746

"With inward view, / Thence on the ideal kingdom swift she turns / Her eye; and instant, at her powerful glance, / The obedient phantoms vanish or appear; / Compound, divide, and into order shift, / Each to his rank, from plain perception up / To the fair forms of Fancy's fleeting train."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1748

"Let godlike reason, from her sovereign throne, / Speak the commanding word 'I will!' and it is done."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)