Date: 1710, 1714
"This indeed is but too certain; That as long as we enjoy a Mind; as long as we have Appetites and Sense, the Fancys of all kinds will be hard at work; and whether we are in company, or alone, they must range still, and be active. They must have their Field. The Question is, Whether they shall ha...
preview | full record— Cooper, Anthony Ashley, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)
Date: w. c. 1709, 1711
"While from the bounded level of our mind, / Short views we take, nor see the lengths behind, / But more advanc'd, behold with strange surprize / New distant scenes of endless science rise!"
preview | full record— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)
Date: Monday, June 18, 1711
"The latter [the fool and his passions] is like the Owner of a barren Country that fills his Eye with the Prospect of naked Hills and Plains, which produce nothing either profitable or ornamental; the other [the wise man and his ideas] beholds a beautiful and spacious Landskip divided into deligh...
preview | full record— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)
Date: 1711
"The scorcht and pathless Desarts of the Brain, / Want proper Caves and Cells to entertain / A Crowd of airy Forms and long Ideal Train."
preview | full record— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Date: 1711
"Fierce is their [natives of hot climates] Rage, and all the Savage Beast / Reigns in their Soul, and haunts their desart Breast; / Where Hate, Revenge, and Jealousy are bred, / And livid Envy hides her spleenful Head."
preview | full record— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Date: w. c. 1709, 1711
"As on the land while here the Ocean gains, / In other parts it leaves wide sandy plains; / Thus in the soul while memory prevails, / The solid pow'r of understanding fails; / Where beams of warm imagination play, / The memory's soft figures melt away."
preview | full record— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)
Date: Tuesday, January 15, 1712
"We discovered several little Roads or Canals running from the Ear into the Brain, and took particular care to trace them out through their several Passages."
preview | full record— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)
Date: Wednesday, July 2, 1712
"Our Reason can pursue a Particle of Matter through an infinite Variety of Divisions, but the Fancy soon loses sight of it, and feels in it self a kind of Chasm, that wants to be filled with Matter of a more sensible Bulk."
preview | full record— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)
Date: 1712
"These Out-guards of the Mind are sent abroad, / And still patrolling beat the neighb'ring Road: / Or to the Parts remote obedient fly, / Keep Posts advanc'd, and on the Frontier lye."
preview | full record— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Date: 1712
"Quick, as a darted Beam of Light, they [the spirits] go, / Thro' diff'rent Paths to diff'rent Organs flow, / Whence they reflect as swiftly to the Brain, / To give it Pleasure, or to give it Pain."
preview | full record— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)