Date: 1723

In one's Garret-Closet one's Muse may "take Possession": "Poetry being one of those subtle Devils, that if driven out by never so many firm Purposes, good Resolutions, Aversion to that Poverty it intails upon its Adherents; yet it will always return and find a Passage to the Heart, Brain, ...

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

Date: 1723

"Cease, prithee, Muse, thus to infest / The barren Region of my Breast, / Which never can an Harvest yield, / Since Weeds of Noise o'er-run the Field."

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

Date: 1723

"Covetousness we may truly call, The Dropsie of the Mind, it being an insatiable Thirst of Gain"

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

Date: 1723

"Your Letter has so ruffled my whole Interior, that I know not how to write common Sense."

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

Date: 1723

Her Muse may "And with thy Spells driv'st Griefs away,
Which else wou'd make my Heart their Prey"

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

Date: 1723

"Thou'rt to my Mind so very good, / Its Consolation, Physick, Food."

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

Date: 1723

"Then, gentle Muse, be still my Guest; / Take full Possession of my Breast."

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

Date: 1723

"When Friends Advice with Lovers Forces joyn, / They conquer Hearts more fortified than mine."

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

Date: 1723

"Mine [heart] open lies, without the least Defence; / No Guard of Art; but its own Innocence; / Under which Fort it could fierce Storms endure: / But from thy Wit I find no Fort secure."

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

Date: 1726

One may find "his own Affections ... impossible to conquer, or bring into any bounds of Reason."

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)