Date: 1711

"When Fancy makes superior Flight her Aim, / Wing'd with this vig'rous, clear seraphick Flame, / She ranges Nature's universal Frame; / Bright Seeds of Thought from various Objects takes, / Whence her fair Scenes and Images she makes: / Spirits so swift, so fine, so bold, so strong, / Gave Milton...

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1751

"Mankind would be in a perpetual reverie; ideas would be constantly floating in the mind; and no man be able to connect his ideas with himself."

— Home, Henry, Lord Kames (1696-1782)

Date: 1751

"A reverie is nothing else, but a wandering of the mind through its ideas, without carrying along the perception of self."

— Home, Henry, Lord Kames (1696-1782)

Date: 1751

"Frightful ideas croud into the mind, and augment the fear, which is occasioned by darkness."

— Home, Henry, Lord Kames (1696-1782)

Date: 1803

"Ah, how the human mind wearies herself / With her own wanderings, and, involved in gloom / Impenetrable, speculates amiss!"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)