Date: 1777

"As it is the character of Genius to penetrate with a lynx's beam into unfathomable abysses and uncreated worlds, and to see what is not, so it is the property of good sense to distinguish perfectly, and judge accurately what really is."

— More, Hannah (1745-1833)

Date: 1782

"Wisdom, blest beam! / The brightness of the everlasting light! / The spotlesss mirror of the pow'r of GOD! / The reflex image of th' all-perfect mind!"

— More, Hannah (1745-1833)

Date: 1787

"May Europe's race the generous toil pursue, / And Truth's broad mirror spread to every view; / Awake to Reason's voice the savage mind, / Check Error's force, and civilize mankind."

— Pye, Henry James (1745-1813)

Date: 1787

"But does not Reason's faithful mirror she / The future prospect of distress and woe,/ And point what dangers modern softness wait / In the sad tale of Rome's declining state?"

— Pye, Henry James (1745-1813)

Date: 1788

"Since there is no convexity in MIND, / Why are thy genial beams to parts confined?"

— More, Hannah (1745-1833)

Date: 1788

"Whene'er to Afric's shores I turn my eyes, / Horrors of deepest, deadliest guilt arise; / I see, by more than Fancy's mirror shewn, / The burning village, and the blazing town."

— More, Hannah (1745-1833)

Date: 1790

"Or novelty, fair pleasure's youthful queen, / Gives fresh allurements to each splendid scene, / To these, in fancy's varying mirror shown, / Amusement charms with beauties not its own."

— Pye, Henry James (1745-1813)

Date: w. 1780, 1792

"Blest be the tribute of those tears, that start / From Friendship's eye, the mirrors of the heart."

— Polwhele, Richard (1760-1838)

Date: 1794, 1796, 1797, rev. 1798

"Where'er they rov'd, young Fancy and the Muse / Wav'd high their mirror of a thousand hues."

— Mathias, Thomas James (1753/4-1835)

Date: 1808

"Let us awhile divert our spleen, / Recall the gay, the cheerful scene; /Awhile in Fancy's mirror trace / The social night, the joyous chase"

— Anstey, Christopher (1724-1805)