Date: 1735-6
"Snatch'd by these wonders to that world where thought / Unfetter'd ranges, Fancy's magic hand / Led me anew o'er all the solemn scene, / Still in the mind's pure eye more solemn dress'd."
preview | full record— Thomson, James (1700-1748)
Date: 1735-6
"His mental eye first launch'd into the deeps of boundless ether; where unnumber'd orbs, / Myriads on myriads, through the pathless sky / Unerring roll, and wind their steady way."
preview | full record— Thomson, James (1700-1748)
Date: 1735-6
"In the soft plunder came that worst of plagues, / That pestilence of mind, a fever'd thirst / For the false joys which Luxury prepares."
preview | full record— Thomson, James (1700-1748)
Date: 1735-6
"See! the full board / That steams disgust, and bowls that give no joy; / No truth invited there, to feed the mind; / Nor wit, the wine-rejoicing reason quaffs."
preview | full record— Thomson, James (1700-1748)
Date: 1735-6
The young mind may be fed impurities and bloated with "scholastic jargon" or it may be "fill'd and nourish'd by the light of truth"
preview | full record— Thomson, James (1700-1748)
Date: 1737
"Whatever fancy paints, invention pours, / Judgment digests, the well tuned bosom feels, / Truth natural, moral, or divine, has taught, / The virtues dictate, or the Muses sing."
preview | full record— Thomson, James (1700-1748)
Date: 1744, 1772, 1795
"Yet more: her honours where nor beauty claims, / Nor shews of good the thirsty sense allure, / From passion's power alone our nature holds / Essential pleasure."
preview | full record— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)
Date: 1744, 1772, 1795
"But if to ampler prospects, if to gaze / On nature's form, where, negligent of all / These lesser graces, she assumes the port / Of that eternal majesty that weigh'd / The world's foundations, if to these the mind / Exalts her daring eye; then mightier far / Will be the change, and nobler."
preview | full record— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)
Date: 1744, 1772, 1795
"Then the inexpressive strain / Diffuses its inchantment: fancy dreams / Of sacred fountains and Elysian groves, / And vales of bliss: the intellectual power / Bends from his awful throne a wondering ear, / And smiles: the passions, gently sooth'd away, / Sink to divine repose, and love and joy /...
preview | full record— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)
Date: 1744, 1772, 1795
"Else wherefore burns / In mortal bosoms this unquenched hope, / That breathes from day to day sublimer things, / And mocks possession?"
preview | full record— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)