Date: 1779, 1781

"A memory admitting some things and rejecting others, an intellectual digestion that concocted the pulp of learning, but refused the husks, had the appearance of an instinctive elegance, of a particular provision made by Nature for literary politeness."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1779, 1781

"But the power of Cowley is not so much to move the affections, as to exercise the understanding."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1779, 1781

"The diction, being the vehicle of the thoughts, first presents itself to the intellectual eye; and if the first appearance offends, a further knowledge is not often sought."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1782

"Faults in the life breed errors in the brain"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

A "glance of the mind" is fleet

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

"To captivate admiring Fancy's eyes, / She bids celestial decorations rise; / But, as a playful and capricious child / Frowns at the splendid toy on which it smiled; / So wayward Fancy now with scorn surveys / Those specious Miracles she lov'd to praise; / Still fond of change, and fickle Fashion...

— Hayley, William (1745-1820)

Date: 1782

"Rough annoyance" may rankle in the mind

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

The "anxious mind" may be racked by pangs

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

One may have a mind "Not yet so blank, or fashionably blind, / But now and then perhaps a feeble ray /Of distant wisdom shoots across his way."

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

One may have a mind "Not yet so blank, or fashionably blind, / But now and then perhaps a feeble ray /Of distant wisdom shoots across his way"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)