Date: 1732
"He that wants the proper materials of thought, may think and meditate for ever to no purpose: those cobwebs spun by scholars out of their own brains being alike unserviceable, either for use or ornament."
preview | full record— Berkeley, George (1685-1753)
Date: 1733
"I own it is much easier to confute than establish, and I should not be very Sanguin about the Non-existence of animal Spirits, but that I have observ'd the dwelling so much upon them, has led Physicians too much to neglect the mending Juices, the opening Obstructions, and the strengthening the S...
preview | full record— Cheyne, George (1671-1743)
Date: 1733
"I see the Soul in pensive fit, / And mopeing like sick Linnet sit, / With dewy eye and moulting wing, / Unperch'd, averse to fly or sing."
preview | full record— Green, Matthew (1696-1737) [pseud. Peter Drake, a Fisherman of Brentford]
Date: 1733-4
"And hence one Master Passion in the breast, / Like Aaron's serpent, swallows up the rest."
preview | full record— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)
Date: 1734
"Hail, holy souls, no more confin'd / To limbs and bones that clog the mind; / Ye have escap'd the snares, and left the chains behind."
preview | full record— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)
Date: 1735
"But if my Soul, / To this gross Clay confin'd, flutters on Earth / With less ambitious Wing; unskill'd to range / From Orb to Orb, where Newton leads the Way; / And view with piercing Eye the grand Machine, / Worlds above Worlds; subservient to his Voice, / Who, veil'd in clouded Majesty, alone ...
preview | full record— Somervile, William (1675-1742)
Date: 1735
"No more the tender seeds unquicken'd lie, / But stretch their form and wait for wings to fly."
preview | full record— Harte, Walter (1708/9-1774)
Date: 1736
"Dreams were the only Work of a disturb'd Fancy, and were as far from Truth, as the Glow-Worm's dim Shine from Light and Heat; the Creatures of the drowsy Brain."
preview | full record— Chetwood, William Rufus (d. 1766)
Date: 1737
"Brave Souls when loos'd from this ignoble Chain / Of Clay, and sent to their own Heav'n again, / From Earth's gross Orb on Virtue's Pinions rise / In Æther wanton, and enjoy the Skies."
preview | full record— Baker, Henry (1698-1774)
Date: 1737 (also 1738, 1743, reprinted 1754)
"In rainy days keep double guard, / Or spleen will surely be too hard, / Which, like those fish by sailors met, / Flies highest, while its wings are wet."
preview | full record— Green, Matthew (1696-1737)