Date: 1708, 1714
"For besides that our Reason, which knows the Cheat, will never rest thorowly satisfy'd on such a Bottom, but turn us often a-drift, and toss us in a Sea of Doubt and Perplexity."
preview | full record— Cooper, Anthony Ashley, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)
Date: 1709
Some will tell us "What all our Senseless Dreams import, / Drest in a Thousand various Shapes, / Centaures, Chimæras, Bulls and Apes, / When Fancy is dispos'd her Airyship to Sport."
preview | full record— Gould, Robert (b. 1660?, d. in or before 1709)
Date: 1710, 1714
""For according as these Passions veer, my Interest veers, my Steerage varies; and I make alternately, now this, now that, to be my Course and Harbour."
preview | full record— Cooper, Anthony Ashley, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)
Date: 1712, 1796
"Unsteady nature, varying like the wind, / Hurries to each extreme th'unstable mind; / At sea becalm'd, we wish some brisker gales / Would on us rise, and fill our limber sails: / We have our wish; and straight our skiff is toss'd / So high, we are in danger to be lost."
preview | full record— Ellwood, Thomas (1639-1713)
Date: 1712, 1715, 1719
We "suffer our selves to be blown and toss'd by our Passions, without casting Anchor on the Coast of sound Judgment, or steering to the Harbour of right Reason"
preview | full record— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)
Date: 1715-1720
"'Tis however remarkable that his Fancy, which is every where vigorous, is not discover'd immediately at the beginning of his Poem in its fullest Splendor: It grows in the Progress both upon himself and others, and becomes on Fire like a Chariot-Wheel, by its own Rapidity."
preview | full record— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)
Date: 1718
"For from most Bodies, Dick, You know,/ Some little Bits ask Leave to flow; / And, as thro' these Canals They roll, / Bring up a Sample of the Whole. / Like Footmen running before Coaches, / To tell the Inn, what Lord approaches."
preview | full record— Prior, Matthew (1664-1721)
Date: 1719
"It is as impossible as needless, to set down the innumerable Crowd of Thoughts that whirl'd through that great Thorowfair of the Brain, the Memory, in this Night's Time."
preview | full record— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)
Date: February 22, 1723
"For 'tis th' infirmity of noblest minds, / When ruffled with an unexpected woe, / To speak what settled prudence wou'd conceal: / As the vex'd ocean working in a storm, / Oft brings to light the wrecks which long lay calm, / In the dark bosom of the secret deep."
preview | full record— Fenton, Elijah (1683-1730)
Date: Monday, May 25, 1724
"The Mind of Will. Weathercock is like the Sail of a great Ship, that has Room, to contain much Wind; but, having none, of its own producing, is swell'd out, by Turns, from all the Quarters of the Compass."
preview | full record— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)