Date: 1711

"Such noble Vital Instruments are fit / For Reason's Works, and beauteous Turns of Wit. / With finer Strokes they move the tender Strings / Tun'd in the Brain, whence clear Perception springs."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

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: 1711

"Obdurate, rarely in your yielding Breast, / You entertain the Beatifick Guest."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1711

"Your Hearts, as barren as your Rocks and Sand, / Her Charms and pow'rful Influence withstand; / Whose heav'nly Rays defeated thence recoil, / Like Sun-Beams wasted on unfruitful Soil."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1711

"These Spirits rais'd from Choler to the Brain, / Like those extracted from the basest Grain, / Impure and crude, produce unnatural Heat, / And an ignoble Flame of Life create."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1711

"Fierce is their [natives of hot climates] Rage, and all the Savage Beast / Reigns in their Soul, and haunts their desart Breast; / Where Hate, Revenge, and Jealousy are bred, / And livid Envy hides her spleenful Head."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1716

"We are gratify'd to see an unexpected Idea presented to our Understanding, and wonder at the beautiful Conjunction of Notions so separate and remote before; and whatever is marvellous is delightful too; as we always feel a Pleasure at the sight of Foreigners and their Garments, so the Mind rejoi...

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1752, 1791

"Is apathy, is heart of steel, / Nor ear to hear, nor sense to feel."

— Smart, Christopher (1722-1771)

Date: 1752, 1791

"Thy appetites in easy tides / (As reason's luminary guides) / Soft flow--no wind can work them to a storm, / Correctly quick, dispassionately warm."

— Smart, Christopher (1722-1771)

Date: 1767

"Yet, to the stoic apathy estrang'd, / Thou canst, with steady courage, probe to th' quick / The wound thou mean'st to cure; thou canst reprove / With all the sweet persuasion of esteem: / And give a momentary pang, to free / The worthy mind from its ignoble chain."

— Dodd, William (1729-1777)