Date: Wednesday, June 27, 1711
"Not to be tedious, there is scarce any Emotion in the Mind which does not produce a suitable Agitation in the Fan; insomuch, that if I only see the Fan of a disciplin'd Lady, I know very well whether she laughs, frowns, or blushes."
preview | full record— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)
Date: Tuesday, January 22, 1712
"Several of these little Hollows were stuffed with innumerable sorts of Trifles, which I shall forbear giving any particular Account of, and shall therefore only take Notice of what lay first and uppermost, which, upon our unfolding it and applying our Microscopes to it, appeared to be a Flame-co...
preview | full record— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)
Date: Saturday, March 29, 1712
"As Poetry delights in cloathing abstracted Ideas in Allegories and sensible Images, we find a magnificent Description of the Creation form'd after the same manner in one of the Prophets, wherein he describes the Almighty Architect as measuring the Waters in the Hollow of his Hand, meting out the...
preview | full record— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)
Date: Thursday, May 15, 1712
"It is extremely natural for us to desire to see such our Thoughts put into the Dress of Words, without which indeed we can scarce have a clear and distinct Idea of them our selves: When they are thus clothed in Expressions, nothing so truly shews us whether they are just or false, as those Effec...
preview | full record— Budgell, Eustace (1686-1737)
Date: 1716
"We are gratify'd to see an unexpected Idea presented to our Understanding, and wonder at the beautiful Conjunction of Notions so separate and remote before; and whatever is marvellous is delightful too; as we always feel a Pleasure at the sight of Foreigners and their Garments, so the Mind rejoi...
preview | full record— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Date: 1718
"Tropes at first, in the rude Times of the World, us'd for Necessity, were soon found to be Ornamental, and to give Strength and Gracefulness to the Turn of Men's Thoughts: As Garments first put on for the necessary Defence of the Body against the Severities of the Weather, were quickly f...
preview | full record— Blackwall, Anthony (bap. 1672, d. 1730)
Date: Friday, April 17. 1724
"Their Imaginations are thin, and delicate; and play lightly on the Skirts of Objects: But they are too weak for solid Reasoning; and, in any Thing abstracted, and above the Pitch of the Senses, they are miserably Impotent, and grow presently weary."
preview | full record— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)
Date: 1737
"So many things freely thrown out, such lengths of unreserv'd friendship, thoughts just warm from the brain, without any polishing or dress, the very dishabille of the understanding."
preview | full record— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)