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...
preview | full record— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Date: 1713
"Away the Skilful Doctor comes / Of Recipes and Med'cines full, / To check the giddy Whirl of Nature's Fires, / If so th' unruly Case requires; / Or with his Cobweb-cleansing Brooms / To sweep and clear the over-crouded Scull, / If settl'd Spirits flag, and make the Patient dull."
preview | full record— Finch [née], Anne, Countess of Winchilsea (1666-1720)
Date: 1731
Say "How Fancy ev'ry Shape puts on, / How kindling Sparks her Form compose, / And whence that ever shining Train / That Memory or Experience shows."
preview | full record— Travers, H. (f. 1730)
Date: 1735-6
"He, too, the fire of fancy feeds intense, / With all the train of passions thence derived: / Not kindling quick, a noisy transient blaze, / But gradual, silent, lasting, and profound."
preview | full record— Thomson, James (1700-1748)
Date: 1737
"Whence Talbot's friendship glows to future times, / Intrepid, warm; of kindred tempers born; / Nursed, by experience, into slow esteem, / Calm confidence unbounded, love not blind, / And the sweet light from mingled minds disclosed, / From mingled chymic oils as bursts the fire."
preview | full record— Thomson, James (1700-1748)
Date: 1742
"AN Inward Baptism of Fire / Wherewith to be baptiz'd I have; / 'Tis all my longing Soul's Desire, / This, only This my soul can save."
preview | full record— Wesley, John and Charles
Date: 1747
"Tho' her bright Image, in his Breast he bears, / And all her Beauties in his Form appears; / Tho' in his Soul she lights her heav'nly Flame, / And finds even here a Votary in him."
preview | full record— Lennox, née Ramsay, (Barbara) Charlotte (1730/1?-1804)
Date: 1762
"But long e'er Paphos rose, or Poet sung, / In heav'nly Breasts the sacred Passion sprung: / The same bright Flames in raptur'd Seraphs glow, / As warm consenting Tempers here below.
preview | full record— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)
Date: 1766
"Fancy leads the fetter'd senses / Captives to her fond controul; / Merit may have rich pretences, / But 'tis Fancy fires the soul."
preview | full record— Cunningham, John (1729-1773)
Date: 1796
"The effect [of wit on the mind] is strong,--because it's odd, / Like fire electric from a clod; / Or when fix'd air puts out a light, / Tho' vital makes it blaze more bright."
preview | full record— Courtenay, John Lees (1775?-1794)