Date: May 10, 1704
"And I think the reason is easy to be assigned: for there is a peculiar string in the harmony of human understanding which, in several individuals, is exactly of the same tuning. Thus, if you can dexterously screw up to its right key and then strike gently upon it, whenever you have the good fort...
preview | full record— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)
Date: 1704
"Nay, wise Men and great Philosophers, have accounted it as the Archet or Musical Bow of the Mind. And certainly it is most true, and as it were a Secret of Nature, that the Minds of Men are more patent to Affections, and Impressions Congregate than Solitary."
preview | full record— Dennis, John (1658-1734)
Date: 1705
"Nature is a kind of Harmony, which by a strange Collection of Things, makes an Impression on our Senses and our Reason."
preview | full record— Manley, Delarivier (c. 1670-1724)
Date: 1706
"Our Souls are out of Tune, we languish all, / Nor does the sweet Returning of the Dawn / Chear with its usual Mirth our drowzy Spirits, / That droop'd beneath the lazy leaden Night."
preview | full record— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)
Date: 1706
"Let ev'ry jarring Sound of Discord cease, / Tune all your Thoughts and Words to Beauty's Praise, / To Beauty, that with sweet and pleasant Influence / Breaks Life the Day-star from the chearful East."
preview | full record— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)
Date: 1707, 1709
"So fell Great Britains Orpheus in his Rage, / When Furies in his Breast began to howl, / And Cares that wait on Life's uncertain Stage, / Had quite untun'd his Soul."
preview | full record— Ward, Edward (1667-1731)
Date: 1709, 1714
"For this is the Effect, and this the Beauty of their Art; 'in vocal Measures of Syllables, and Sounds, to express the Harmony and Numbers of an inward kind; and represent the Beautys of a human Soul, by proper Foils, and Contrarietys, which serve as Graces in this Limning, and render this Musick...
preview | full record— Cooper, Anthony Ashley, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)
Date: From Tuesd. Aug. 9. to Thursday Aug. 11. 1709
"We must take our Minds a Note or two lower, or we shall be tortur'd by Jealousy or Anger."
preview | full record— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)
Date: From Tuesd. Sept. 13. to Thursd. Sept. 15. 1709
"The Strings of the Heart, which are to be touched to give us Compassion, are not so played on but by the finest Hand."
preview | full record— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)
Date: 1710, 1714
"For the understanding here must have its mark, its characteristic note, by which it may be distinguished."
preview | full record— Cooper, Anthony Ashley, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)