Date: 1741

"Cornelius quickly discovered, that these two last operations of the intellect were very weak in Martin, and almost totally extinguish'd in Crambe; however he used to say that Rules of Logick are Spectacles to a purblind understanding, and therefore he resolved to proceed with his two Pupils."

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744); Arbuthnot, John (bap. 1677, d. 1735)

Date: 1742

"So engaging are the sentiments of humanity, that they brighten up the very face of sorrow, and operate like the sun, which, shining on a dusky cloud or falling rain, paints on them the most glorious colours which are to be found in the whole circle of nature."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1744, 1772, 1795

"Not so the moral species, nor the powers / Of genius and design; the ambitious mind / There sees herself: by these congenial forms / Touch'd and awaken'd, with intenser act / She bends each nerve, and meditates well-pleas'd / Her features in the mirror."

— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)

Date: 1744, 1772, 1795

"Thus he learns / Their birth and fortunes; how allied they haunt / The avenues of sense; what laws direct / Their union; and what various discords rise, / Or fix'd or casual: which when his clear thought / Retains and when his faithful words express, / That living image of the external scene, / ...

— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)

Date: 1745

"A race fantastick, in whose page you see / Untutor'd fancy, a meer Jeu d'Esprit: / Wit's shatter'd mirror lies in fragments bright, / Reflects not nature, but confounds the sight."

— Brown, John (1715-1766)

Date: 1745

"These were Virtues unknown to him, who like the Ungrateful lessen'd the Obligations he had to her, by viewing his own Merit in the flattering Glass, his Fancy held before him. This false Mirror soon turn'd the Scale in his Favour, attributing her Choice of him to his own good Sense, which had Ar...

— Anonymous

Date: 1746, 1793

Happiness may "Dart thro' my soul one chearful ray"

— Blacklock, Thomas (1721-1791)

Date: 1746

"As the great light that rules the radiant sphere, / The passions of a generous mind extend"

— Ruffhead, James

Date: 1746

The "heart of man" may be probed with the Muse's microscope

— Ruffhead, James

Date: 1746

The "light of reason's ray" may be extinguished

— Ruffhead, James