Date: 1706
A woman's "Reason [may be] Shipwrack'd upon her Passion, and the Hulk of her Understanding lies thumping against the Rock of her Fury"
preview | full record— Vanbrugh, Sir John (1664-1726)
Date: Wednesday, June 18, 1712
"The strange and absurd Variety that is so apparent in Men's Actions, shews plainly they can never proceed immediately from Reason; so pure a Fountain emits no such troubled Waters: They must necessarily arise from the Passions, which are to the Mind as the Winds to a Ship, they only can move it,...
preview | full record— Anonymous
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: 1712, 1715, 1719
We "suffer our selves to be blown and toss'd by our Passions, without casting Anchor on the Coast of sound Judgment, or steering to the Harbour of right Reason"
preview | full record— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)
Date: February 22, 1723
"For 'tis th' infirmity of noblest minds, / When ruffled with an unexpected woe, / To speak what settled prudence wou'd conceal: / As the vex'd ocean working in a storm, / Oft brings to light the wrecks which long lay calm, / In the dark bosom of the secret deep."
preview | full record— Fenton, Elijah (1683-1730)
Date: Monday, May 25, 1724
"The Mind of Will. Weathercock is like the Sail of a great Ship, that has Room, to contain much Wind; but, having none, of its own producing, is swell'd out, by Turns, from all the Quarters of the Compass."
preview | full record— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)
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: 1727
"In this distracted Condition, Conscience, like a Storm at Sea, still breaks over him; first gathers about him in a thick black Cloud, threatning the Deaths that it comes loaded with; and after hovering about him for a-while, at last bursts with Lightnings and Thunder, and the poor shatter'd Vess...
preview | full record— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)
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?)