Date: 1712

"Then grant a Man his Being did commence, / Deny'd by Nature each external Sense, / These Ports unopen'd, diffident we guess, / Th' unconscious Soul no Image could possess. / Tho' what in such a State the restless Train / Of Spirits would produce, we ask in vain."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1712

"Hence stampt on Nature we Perfection find, / Fair as th'Idea in th'Eternal Mind."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1712

"Our wondring Eyes his high Perfections view, / The lofty Contemplation we pursue, / 'Till ravish'd we the great Idea find, / Shining in bright Impressions on our Mind."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1712

"Objects, which thro' the Senses make their Way, / And just Impressions to the Soul convey, Give her Occasion first her self to move, / And to exert her Hatred, or her Love."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1712

"When she to foreign Objects Audience gives, / Their Strokes and Motions in the Brain perceives, / As these Perceptions we Ideas name, / From her own Pow'r and active Nature came, / So when discern'd by Intellectual Light, / Her self her various Passions does excite, / To Ill her Hate, to Good he...

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1712

"These Out-guards of the Mind are sent abroad, / And still patrolling beat the neighb'ring Road: / Or to the Parts remote obedient fly, / Keep Posts advanc'd, and on the Frontier lye."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1712

"The watchful Centinels at ev'ry Gate, / At ev'ry Passage to the Senses wait."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1712

"Still travel to and fro the Nervous way, / And their Impressions to the Brain convey, / Where their Report the Vital Envoys make, / And with new Orders are remanded back."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1712

"Quick, as a darted Beam of Light, they [the spirits] go, / Thro' diff'rent Paths to diff'rent Organs flow, / Whence they reflect as swiftly to the Brain, / To give it Pleasure, or to give it Pain."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1712

"But other Spirits govern'd by the Will / Shoot thro' their Tracks, and distant Muscles fill. / This Sov'raign by his arbitrary Nod / Restrains, or sends his Ministers abroad."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)