Date: 1727

"Here, the soft Flocks, with that same harmless Look, / They wore alive, and ruminating still, / In Fancy's Eye; and there the frowning Bull, / And Ox half-rais'd"

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1727

"'Fear not,' he said, 'Sweet innocence! thou stranger to offence, / And inward storm!'"

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1727

"Passes the day illusive, and perplext, / As fleets the Vision o'er the formful Brain, / This Moment hurrying wild the impassion'd Soul, / The next in Nothing lost."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1727

"Effusive Source of Evidence, and Truth! / A Lustre shedding o'er the ennobled Mind, / Stronger than Summer-Noon, and pure as that, / Which gently vibrates on the Eye of Saint, / New to the Dawning of coelestial Day."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1727

"Hence, thro' her nourish'd Powers, enlarged by Thee, / She soaring, spurns, with elevated Pride, / The tangling Mass of Cares, and low Desires, / That bind the fluttering Crowd; and, Angel-wing'd, / The Heights of Science and of Vertue gains, / Where all is calm and bright! with Nature round, / ...

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1727

"With inflected View, / Thence on th' Ideal Kingdom, swift, she turns / Her Eye; and instant, at her virtual Glance, / Th' obedient Phantoms vanish, and appear, / Compound, divide, and into Order shift, / Each to his rank, from plain Perception up / To Notion quite abstract; where first begins / ...

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1728

"Then infant Reason grows apace, and calls / For the kind Hand of an assiduous Care: / Delightful Task! to rear the tender Thought, / To teach the young Idea how to shoot, / To pour the fresh Instruction o'er the Mind, / To breathe th' inspiring Spirit, and to plant / The generous Purpose in...

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1728

"Your Present's most gentile and kind, / Baith rich and shining as your Mind"

— Ramsay, Allan (1684-1758)

Date: 1728

"Who in each other clasp whatever fair / High Fancy forms, and lavish Hearts can wish, / Something than Beauty dearer, should they look / Or on the Mind, or Mind-illumin'd Face, / Truth, Goodness, Honour, Harmony and Love, / The richest Bounty of indulgent Heaven."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1728

"BUT now what-e'er these gaudy Fables meant, / And the white Minutes that they shadow'd out, / Are found no more amid these Iron Times, / These Dregs of Life! in which the Human Mind / Has lost that Harmony ineffable, / Which forms the Soul of Happiness; and all / Is off the Poise within; the Pas...

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)