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Date: 1696

"The Prince, at this moment, banish'd from his Breast the Idea of all the Court-Beauties he had ever seen, and gaz'd on this Master-piece of Nature so long, till he had imprinted Cordelia's Image too deep for time ever to deface."

— Pix, Mary (c.1666-1720)

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Date: 1711

"Know, hardy Atheists, who insulting say / Some populous Realms to Gods no Homage pay, / And therefore Nature's universal Law / Imprints not on the Mind Religious Awe; / That those, who no superior Being own, / Are more from Beasts by Shape, than Reason known."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

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Date: 1712

"Still travel to and fro the Nervous way, / And their Impressions to the Brain convey, / Where their Report the Vital Envoys make, / And with new Orders are remanded back."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

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Date: 1713

"But just arriv'd--Absence, Mrs. Busie, has not been able to deface the Impressions of Love,--and still the Lady Myrtilla reigns in my Bosom, haunts my waking Thoughts, and is ever present in my Dreams."

— Gay, John (1685-1732)

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Date: 1718

"A thousand little Nerves She sends / Quite to our Toes, and Fingers Ends; / And These in Gratitude again / Return their Spirits to the Brain; / In which their Figure being printed / (As just before, I think, I hinted) / Alma inform'd can try the Case, / As She had seen upon the Place. // Thus, w...

— Prior, Matthew (1664-1721)

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Date: 1719

A "strange Impression upon the Mind, from we know not what Springs, and by we know not what Power," may over-rule us

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

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Date: 1724

"If I have here touch'd a young Lady's Vanity and Levity, it was to show her how beautiful she is without those Blots, which certainly stain the Mind, and stamp Deformity where the greatest Beauties would shine, were they banish'd."

— Davys, Mary (1674-1732)

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Date: 1737

"Her lovely image, on his mind impress'd, / Had fix'd her empire in his yielding breast."

— Rowe [née Singer], Elizabeth (1674-1737)

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Date: 1738, 1739

"For tho' right Reason should her Beams display, / And dart new Lustre on our clouded Way; / Unless Philosophy, with antient Strength, / Support her Empire to Life's utmost Length; / Unless, in Passion's Spite, we dare be free, / (What Few have been, and Few will ever be) / That pristine Turn, th...

— Bancks, John (1709-1751)

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Date: 1739

"Ask ye what Law their conq'ring Cause confess'd? / Great Nature's Law, the Law within the Breast, / Form'd by no Art, and to no Sect confin'd, / But stamp'd by Heav'n upon th' unletter'd Mind."

— Brooke, Henry (c. 1703-1783)

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The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.