Date: 1666
"O truly royal! who behold the law, / And rule of beings in your Maker's mind; / And thence, like limbecs, rich ideas draw, / To fit the levelled use of humankind."
preview | full record— Dryden, John (1631-1700)
Date: November, 1682
"In pleasure some their glutton souls would steep; / But found their line too short, the well too deep; / And leaky vessels which no bliss could keep.
preview | full record— Dryden, John (1631-1700)
Date: 1687
"But, when arrived at last to human race, / The Godhead took a deep considering space; / And, to distinguish man from all the rest, / Unlocked the sacred treasures of his breast; / And mercy mixt with reason did impart, / One to his head, the other to his heart; / Reason to rule, but mercy to f...
preview | full record— Dryden, John (1631-1700)
Date: 1688
"Here's Cavities, says one; and here, says he, / Is th' Seat of Fancy, Judgment, Memory: / Here, says another, is the fertile Womb, / From whence the Spirits Animal do come, / Which are mysteriously ingender'd here, / Of Spirits from Arterious Blood and Air: / Here, said a third, Life made her fi...
preview | full record— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)
Date: 1697
"Lord, strike this Marble Heart, thy powerful Stroke / Will make a Flood gush from the cleaving Rock. / O draw all Nature's Sluces up, and drain / Her Magazines, which liquid Stores contain."
preview | full record— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Date: 1697
"Prodigious was the Compass of his Mind, / Wide as his Love, which took in Humane Kind. / He Albion's Good, not Fame or Riches fought, / Generous, and open-hearted to a fault. / An unexhausted Magazin his Brain / Did all the Treasures of the Schools contain."
preview | full record— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Date: 1702
"When Friends converse together Face to Face; / Then freely they Unbosom their Requests, / And treasure Secrets in each others Breasts, / As in firm Cabinets, close lock'd, where none / Can find the Key, but only each his own."
preview | full record— Mollineux [née Southworth], Mary (1651-1695)
Date: 1703
"The true, substantial Wealth is lodg'd within; / 'Tis there the brightest Gems are found: / Such as wou'd great and glorious Treasures win, Treasures which theirs for ever will remain, / Must Piety and Wisdom strive to gain."
preview | full record— Chudleigh [née Lee], Mary, Lady Chudleigh (bap. 1656, d. 1710)
Date: 1709, 1810
"Never, never would she [the mind] buy / Indian dust, or Tyrian dye, / Never trade abroad for more, / If she saw her native store, / If her inward worth were known / She might ever live alone."
preview | full record— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)
Date: 1710 [1719, 1729]
"His [Man's] ranging Soul in narrow Bounds contains / All Nature's Works, o'er which in Peace he reigns."
preview | full record— Oldisworth, William (1680-1734)