Date: 1712

"What high Perfections grace the human Mind, / In Flesh imprison'd, and to Earth confin'd!"

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1712

"Strong as the Winds, and sprightly as the Light? / She [the mind] moves unweary'd, as the active Fire, / And, like the Flame, her Flights to Heav'n aspire."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1712

"By Day her Thoughts in never-ceasing Streams / Flow clear, by Night they strive in troubled Dreams."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1712

"She [the mind] draws ten thousand Landschapes in the Brain, / Dresses of airy Forms an endless Train, / Which all her Intellectual Scenes prepare, / Enter by turns the Stage, and disappear."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1712

"To the remoter Regions of the Sky / Her swift-wing'd Thought can in a Moment fly; / Climb to the Heights of Heav'n, to be employ'd / In viewing thence th'Interminable Void."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1712

"Thoughts in an Instant thro' the Zodiack run, / A Year's long Journey for the lab'ring Sun: / Then down they shoot, as swift as darting Light, / Nor can opposing Clouds retard their Flight: / Thro' Subterranean Vaults with Ease they sweep, / And search the hidden Wonders of the Deep."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1712

"The Mind's Tribunal can Reports reject / Made by the Senses, and their Faults correct."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1712

The mind "Can each reluctant Appetite controul: / Can ev'ry Passion rule, and ev'ry Sense, / Change Nature's Course, and with her Laws dispense: / Our Breathing to prevent, she can arrest / Th'Extension, or Contraction of the Breast: / When pain'd with Hunger we can Food refuse, / And wholesome A...

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1712

"She next essay'd the Embryo's Rise to trace / From an unfashion'd, rude, unchannell'd Mass; / And sung how Spirits waken'd in the Brain / Exert their Force, and genial Toil maintain; / Erect the beating Heart, the Channels frame, / Unfold entangled Limbs, and kindle vital Flame."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1712

"How Spirits, which for Sense and Motion serve, / Unguided find the perforated Nerve. / Thro' ev'ry dark Recess pursue their Flight, / Unconscious of the Road and void of Sight, / Yet certain of the End still guide their Motions right."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)