Date: 1712, 1796
"Unsteady nature, varying like the wind, / Hurries to each extreme th'unstable mind; / At sea becalm'd, we wish some brisker gales / Would on us rise, and fill our limber sails: / We have our wish; and straight our skiff is toss'd / So high, we are in danger to be lost."
preview | full record— Ellwood, Thomas (1639-1713)
Date: 1725-6
"Thus anchor'd safe on reason's peaceful coast, / Tempests of wrath his soul no longer tost; / Restless his body rolls, to rage resign'd: / As one who long with pale-ey'd famine pin'd, / The sav'ry cates on glowing embers cast / Incessant turns, impatient for repast"
preview | full record— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744), Broome, W. and Fenton, E.
Date: 1725
A poet shouldn't unfurl his sails in a gale of ungovernable rage
preview | full record— Pitt, Christopher (1699-1748)
Date: 1730
"Tho' his capacious Head, the sacred Ark! / Where a whole World of Science does imbark, / Has steer'd and labour'd all it can, / As Reason fill'd the Sail, / Yet what does all this fruitless search avail?"
preview | full record— Woodward, George (b. 1708?)
Date: 1744
"Eternity's vast ocean lies before thee; / There, there, Lorenzo, thy Clarissa sails. / Give thy mind sea-room; keep it wide of earth, / That rock of souls immortal; cut thy cord; / Weigh anchor; spread thy sails; call every wind; / Eye thy great Pole-star; make the land of life."
preview | full record— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)
Date: 1746
"As gentle winds inflate the spreading sails," "so wealth and glory swell the Pride"
preview | full record— Ruffhead, James
Date: 1765
""Unwise, who, tossing on the watery way, / All to the storm th'unfetter'd sail devolve; / Man more unwise resigns the mental sway, / Born headlong on by passion's keen resolve."
preview | full record— Beattie, James (1735-1803)
Date: 1766
"Should you but discompose the tide, / On which Ideas wont to ride, / Ferment it with a yeasty Storm, / Or with high Floods of Wine deform."
preview | full record— Lloyd, Evan (1734-1776)
Date: 1766
"Her tuneful tongue with eloquence and ease, / The golden merchandize of thought conveys; / Brisk fancy wafts it with her sprightly gales, / While judgment ballasts all the swelling sails."
preview | full record— Woodhouse, James (bap. 1735, d. 1820)
Date: 1782
Complacency may breath a gentle gail over the thoughts and swell an "easy sail"
preview | full record— Cowper, William (1731-1800)