Date: 1745

"Ha! my Brain / Is all on fire! a wild Abyss of Thought!"

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1745

"Behold the fatal Work of my dark Hand, / That by rude Force the Passions would command, / That ruthless sought to root them from the Breast; / They may be rul'd, but will not be opprest."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1747

"And it must be a thorough Acquaintance with her too, that will ever make an Impression on my Heart."

— Hoadly, Benjamin (1706-1757)

Date: 1747

"Not fuller than my Head, Sir, I promise you."

— Hoadly, Benjamin (1706-1757)

Date: 1751, 1768

"When reason rules, what glory does ensue."

— Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley [née Lady Mary Pierrepont] (1689-1762)

Date: 1752, performed 1772

"I flatter'd my poor soul that all its Fears / Were Grief's distemper'd coinage, that my Love / Rais'd causeless apprehensions, and at length / Edgar would quite forgive."

— Mason, William (1725-1797)

Date: 1752

"My ever waking Soul, / Sits brooding o'er a Train of Images, / That constant rise in terrible Array, / And shrink my Resolution into Fears."

— Gentleman, Francis (1728-1784)

Date: 1752

"Remorse the Raven of a guilty Mind, / Is ever croaking horrid in my Ear; / Often I rouse to banish it away, / But the Tormentor still returns again, / And like PROMETHES' Vulture, ever gnaws."

— Gentleman, Francis (1728-1784)

Date: 1752

"Assist me, Furies, with your hellish Aid, / Nor let the Tyrant Conscience more invade; / Since I am stain'd with Blood, thro' Blood I'll wade."

— Gentleman, Francis (1728-1784)

Date: 1752

"Is not Ambition glutted with my Store? / And yet that faithful Mirror of the Mind, / Reflection, still a gloomy Prospect shews."

— Gentleman, Francis (1728-1784)