Date: 1788

"So have I heard / The captive finch, in narrow cage confin'd, / Charm all his woe away with cheerful song, / Which might have melted e'en a heart of steel / To give him liberty"

— Hurdis, James (1763-1801)

Date: 1788

"I would not hear / Aught else disturb the silent reign of death, / Save the dull ticking of a lazy clock. / That calls me home, and leads the pious soul / Through mazes of reflection, till she feels / For whom and why she lives"

— Hurdis, James (1763-1801)

Date: 1788

"The parson frank'd their souls to kingdom-come!"

— Wolcot, John, pseud. Peter Pindar, (1738-1819)

Date: 1788

"With horns, and tail, and hoofs that make folks start; / And in my breast a millstone for a heart!"

— Wolcot, John, pseud. Peter Pindar, (1738-1819)

Date: 1788

"Since our most wicked act / Is not our sin, and our religious awe / Delusion, if that strong Necessity / Chains up our will."

— Crowe, William (1745-1829)

Date: 1788

"The Mind herself, best judge of her own state, / Is feelingly convinced; nor to be moved / By subtle words, that may perplex the head, / But ne'er persuade the heart."

— Crowe, William (1745-1829)

Date: 1788

"Who for such perishable gaudes would put / A yoke upon his free unbroken spirit, / And gall himself with trammels and the rubs / Of this world's business; so he might stand clear / Of judgment and the tax of idleness / In that dread audit, when his mortal hours / (Which now with soft and silent ...

— Crowe, William (1745-1829)

Date: 1789

"Contrive me, Artisan, a Bowl / Of Silver ample as my Soul"

— Fawkes, Francis (1720-1777)

Date: 1790

"'Tis thus the arch deceiver, busy still / To ruin man, besets the female heart, / Insinuates evil counsel, and inflames / The hungry passions, that like arid flax / Catch at a spark, and mount into a blaze."

— Hurdis, James (1763-1801)

Date: 1790

"The passions heated, reason strives in vain; / Her empire's lost, and the distracted soul / Becomes the sport of devils, wholly bent / To turn and wind it in a world of sin."

— Hurdis, James (1763-1801)