Date: 1730

"What dreadful havoc in the human breast / The passions make, when unconfin'd, and mad, / They burst, unguided by the mental eye, / The light of reason; which in various ways / Points them to good, or turns them back from ill."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1745

"Bear Witness, Heaven! Thou Mind-inspecting Eye! / My Breast is pure."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1755

"Can the troubled Brain / Of Sleep out-stretch the Reason's waking Eye?"

— Brown, John (1715-1766)

Date: 1775

The imagination in its fullest enjoyments becomes suspicious of its offspring, and doubts whether it has created or adopted

— Sheridan, Richard Brinsley (1751-1816)

Date: 1775

"If there be but one vicious mind in the Set, 'twill spread like a contagion--the action of their pulse beats to the lascivious movement of the jigg--their quivering, warm-breath'd sighs impregnate the very air--the atmosphere becomes electrical to love, and each amorous spark darts thro' every l...

— Sheridan, Richard Brinsley (1751-1816)

Date: 1775

The thunder of words may sour the "milk of human kindness" in the breast

— Sheridan, Richard Brinsley (1751-1816)