Date: 1752

The mind may be emptied

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

Date: 1752

"O, my dear Amelia, he hath removed the whole Gloom at once, hath driven all Despair out of my Mind, and hath filled it with the most sanguine, and at the same Time, the most reasonable Hopes of making a comfortable Provision for yourself and my dear Children."

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

Date: 1753

"Worthy possess'd my will--my Lord my eye, / Grinly my spleen--my scorn Sir Lubberly. / Chip had my laughter;--every Man his part, / And room for forty more, in woman's heart."

— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)

Date: 1753

"Over-cramm'd / With self, and surfeiting on brief success, / The narrow-compass'd heart wants room, for taste."

— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)

Date: Tuesday, August 28, 1753

"To understand the works of celebrated authors, to comprehend their systems, and retain their reasonings, is a task more than equal to common intellects; and he is by no means to be accounted useless or idle, who has stored his mind with acquired knowledge, and can detail it occasionally to other...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1754

"Sensation would be of little use to form the understanding, if we had no other faculty than mere passive perception; but without sensation these other faculties would have nothing to operate upon, reflection would have by consequence nothing to reflect upon, and it is by reflection that we multi...

— St John, Henry, styled first Viscount Bolingbroke (1678-1751)

Date: March 1756

"The thought-kindling light, / Thy prime production, darts upon my mind / Its vivifying beams, my heart illumines, / And fills my soul with gratitude and Thee."

— Smart, Christopher (1722-1771)

Date: 1757

"Let heav'n-born Mercy ever fill thy Breast, / And Truth be there an ever constant Guest."

— Arnold, Cornelius (b. 1714, d. in or after 1758?)

Date: 1758

"But teach me in MYSELF to find / Whate'er can please or fill my mind."

— Mulso [later Chapone], Hester (1727-1801)

Date: October 21, 1758.

"This counsel has been often given with serious dignity, and often received with appearance of conviction; but, as very few can search deep into their own minds without meeting what they wish to hide from themselves, scarce any man persists in cultivating such disagreeable acquaintance, but draws...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)