Date: 1746, 1753

"Nor sea, nor life, eternal Tempest sweeps, / Hush'd calms succeed it, and the thunder sleeps: / Such, the soft, silent tide, that floods the mind, / To mov'd Compassion's pain-touch'd warmth, inclin'd."

— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)

Date: 1746, 1753

"As in pale churchyards, gleam'd by silent night, / Shou'd some cross'd spectre shade the moon's dim light, / Shudd'ry, the back'ning blood, revolving swift, / Cloggs the press'd heart--stretch'd fibres fail to lift: / Lost, in doubt's hard'ning frost--stopt motion lies, / While sense climbs, gra...

— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)

Date: 1746, 1753

Love "'Tis like soft air, through which admitted light / Peoples pleas'd fancy, and lends shape to sight: / Yet, like that air, disturb'd, man's quiet breaks, / Tempests his reason, and his triumph shakes."

— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)

Date: 1747, 1811

"'Yes, if his soul to reason's rule resign'd, / 'And heaven's own views fair-opening on his mind,/ 'Caught from bright nature's flame the living ray, / 'Through passion's cloud pour'd in resistless day; / 'And taught mankind in reas'ning Pride's despite, / 'That God is wise, and all that is righ...

— Mason, William (1725-1797)

Date: 1747-8

"Reflect upon this; and then wilt thou be able to account for, if not to excuse, a projected crime, which has habit to plead for it, in a breast as stormy, as uncontroulable!"

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)

Date: 1747-8

"And is it not philosophy carried to the highest pitch, for a man to conquer such tumults of soul as I am sometimes agitated by, and, in the very height of the storm, to be able to quaver out an horse-laugh?"

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)

Date: w. 1740, 1748

"Thirsting for Knowledge, but to know the right, / Thro' judgment's optick guide th' illusive sight, / To let in rays on Reason's darkling cell, / And Prejudice's lagging mists dispel."

— Walpole, Horatio [Horace], fourth earl of Orford (1717-1797)

Date: 1749

"Yet should thy Soul indulge the gen'rous Heat, / Till captive Science yields her last Retreat / Should Reason guide thee with her brightest Ray, / And pour on misty Doubt resistless Day; / Should no false Kindness lure to loose Delight, / Nor Praise relax, nor Difficulty fright; / Should temptin...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1750

Vain doubts and groundless fears tear the foolish bosom and preced the "rising storm"

— Eusden, Laurence (1688-1730)

Date: Tuesday, April 24, 1750

"Those sudden bursts of rage generally break out upon small occasions; for life, unhappy as it is, cannot supply great evils as frequently as the man of fire thinks it fit to be enraged; therefore the first reflection upon his violence must shew him that he is mean enough to be driven from his po...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)