Date: Tuesday, February 12, 1712

"In the same manner a Representation of those Calamities and Misfortunes which a weak Man suffers from wrong Measures, and ill-concerted Schemes of Life, is apt to make a deeper Impression upon our Minds, than the wisest Maxims and Instructions that can be given us, for avoiding the like Follies ...

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: Saturday, February 16, 1712

"The Resemblance does not, perhaps, last above a Line or two, but the Poet runs on with the Hint till he has raised out of it some glorious Image or Sentiment, proper to inflame the Mind of the Reader, and to give it that sublime kind of Entertainment, which is suitable to the Nature of an Heroic...

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: Saturday, February 23, 1712

"This Episode of the fallen Spirits, and their Place of Habitation, comes in very happily to unbend the Mind of the Reader from its Attention to the Debate."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: Saturday, March 22, 1712

"This is follow'd by the tearing up of Mountains and Promontories; till, in the last place, the Messiah comes forth in the Fulness of Majesty and Terror, The Pomp of his Appearance amidst the Roarings of his Thunders, the Flashes of his Lightnings, and the Noise of his Chariot-Wheels, is describe...

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: Saturday, March 29, 1712

"The Sixth Book, like a troubled Ocean, represents Greatness in Confusion; the seventh Affects the Imagination like the Ocean in a Calm, and fills the Mind of the Reader, without producing in it any thing like Tumult or Agitation."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: Saturday, March 29, 1712

"As Poetry delights in cloathing abstracted Ideas in Allegories and sensible Images, we find a magnificent Description of the Creation form'd after the same manner in one of the Prophets, wherein he describes the Almighty Architect as measuring the Waters in the Hollow of his Hand, meting out the...

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: Saturday, April 5, 1712

"He likewise is represented as discovering by the Light of Reason, that he and every thing about him must have been the Effect of some Being infinitely good and powerful, and that this Being had a right to his Worship and Adoration."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: Saturday, April 5, 1712

"The Impression which the Interdiction of the Tree of Life left in the Mind of our first Parent, is describ'd with great Strength and Judgment; as the Image of the several Beasts and Birds passing in review before him is very beautiful and lively."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: Saturday, April 19, 1712

"The Plan of Milton's Poem is of an infinitely greater Extent, and fills the Mind with many more astonishing Circumstances."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: Monday, April 21, 1712

"It is not to rid much Ground, or do much Mischief, that should denominate a pleasant Fellow; but that is truly Frolick which is the Play of the Mind, and consists of various and unforced Sallies of Imagination."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)