Date: 1723

"Enormous Bacchanalian Pleasures, loose / Milesian Feasts and Luxury in Use / Among abandon'd Sibarites, were dear / To all the Natives sunk in Riot here, / As they to brutal Instincts had resign'd / Celestial Reason's Empire of the Mind."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1723

"Kings of the Empire of the Soul possest, / Who sit enthron'd secure in every Breast / In Civil Strength, and Glory will encrease, / And triumph mid'st the Joys of lasting Peace."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1723

"Vice had usurp'd the Empire of his Soul."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1723

"[C]an Arms o'er Reason Conquests win, / And triumph o'er the awful Judge within?"

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1723

"Can Lictors able in Dispute dispell / The Clouds of Errour that involve the Mind, within?"

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1723

"Can Kings the Empire of the Soul invade?"

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1723

"Tho' now, 'tis true, the strong Temptation's Force / Suspends Religion, and diverts its Course; / Yet still the Pow'r that chiefly rules your Soul, / And will I trust your future Life controul, / Is heav'nly Virtue, which, tho' now opprest / It sleeps a while unactive in your Breast, / Will, rou...

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1723

"Is not a sensual Tincture thro' your Mind / Deeply diffus'd, by which 'tis now inclin'd / Not heav'nly, but terrestrial Bliss, to chuse, / Pursue low Pleasures, and sublime refuse!"

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1723

"Say, can your Mind to Heav'n direct her Flight / In ardent Anhelations?"

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1723

The "conscious Pow'r, the Judge within," may "With Frowns and awful Menaces begin / To fill [one] with Remorse and secret Fear"

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)