Date: May 10, 1704

"Besides, there is something individual in human minds that easily kindles at the accidental approach and collision of certain circumstances, which, though of paltry and mean appearance, do often flame out into the greatest emergencies of life."

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

Date: 1745

"All these Pleasures of his Breast should die, / The Beams of Science from his Soul retire / And fade, extinguish'd by a nobler Fire, / As kindled Wood, howe'er its Flames may rise, / When the bright Sun appears, in Embers dies."

— Whaley, John (bap. 1710, d. 1745)

Date: 1745

"Soon as his Breast receiv'd the potent Ray, / Whate'er possest it, instantly gave way; / As in the Wood before the Lightning's Beam, / Perish the Leaves, and the whole Tree is Flame."

— Whaley, John (bap. 1710, d. 1745)

Date: 1772, 1810

"His vital spark her earthly cell forsook, / And into air her fleeting progress took."

— Jones, Sir William (1746-1794)

Date: 1780

"Inspir'd thus by the Priest's heroic charge, / seem'd to press to be the earliest victim; / Their souls on fire, were eager to depart / The earthly sphere, and seise on their immortal crowns."

— Cowley [née Parkhouse], Hannah (1743-1809)

Date: 1780

"Oh, spare me then the horror of a sight / My fiery brain splits but to think on!"

— Cowley [née Parkhouse], Hannah (1743-1809)

Date: 1780

"The heart which burns and wastes with hopeless ardors!"

— Cowley [née Parkhouse], Hannah (1743-1809)

Date: w. 1782, 1786, 1816

"Till then I am in torments, ineffable torments! an unrelenting fire preys on my heart."

— Beckford, William (1760-1844)

Date: w. 1782, 1786, 1816

"Having uttered this exclamation, Soliman raised his hands towards heaven, in token of supplication; and the Caliph discerned through his bosom, which was transparent as crystal, his heart enveloped in flames."

— Beckford, William (1760-1844)

Date: w. 1782, 1786, 1816

"They went wandering on, from chamber to chamber; hall to hall; and gallery to gallery; all without bounds or limit; all distinguishable by the same louring gloom; all adorned with the same awful grandeur; all traversed by persons in search of repose and consolation; but, who sought them in vain;...

— Beckford, William (1760-1844)