Date: 1705

"Polish'd in Courts, and harden'd in the Field, / Renown'd for Conquest, and in Council skill'd, / Their Courage dwells not in a troubl'd Flood / Of mounting Spirits, and fermenting Blood; / Lodg'd in the Soul, with Virtue over-rul'd, / Inflam'd by Reason, and by Reason cool'd, / In Hours of Peac...

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: Monday, August 24. 1724

"Vast Sea of Ecstacy, that drowns the Mind! / That fierce Transfusion of exchanging Hearts! / That gliding Glimpse of Heav'n, in pulsive Starts? / That veiny Rush! That warm, tumultuous, Roll! / That Fire that kindles Bodies into Soul!"

— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)

Date: 1726, 1753

"As fire, by nature, climbs direct, and bright, / And beams, in spotless rays, a shining light; / But if some gross obstruction stops its way, / Smokes in low curls, and scents the sullied day: / So love, itself, untainted, and refin'd, / Borrows a tincture, from the colour'd mind."

— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)

Date: 1727

"It is without Doubt, that Fancy and Imagination form a world of Apparitions in the Minds of Men and Women; (for we must not exclude the Ladies in this Part, whatever we do) and People go away as thoroughly possess'd with the Reality of having seen the Devil, as if they convers'd Face to Face wit...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: April 30, 1730

"The spirit of the brain, distilled by the heat of the imagination, like some chemical preparations, when exposed to the air, is apt to smoke, to take fire, to crack, and bounce, to the no small disturbance of the neighbourhood."

— Richard Russel and John Martyn

Date: 1742

"Beware the counterfeit: in Passion's flame / Hearts melt; but melt like ice, soon harder froze."

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)

Date: 1742

"A soul immortal, spending all her fires, / Wasting her strength in strenuous idleness, / Thrown into tumult, raptured, or alarm'd, / At aught this scene can threaten, or indulge, / Resembles ocean into tempest wrought, / To waft a feather, or to drown a fly."

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)

Date: 1743

"He, the great Father, kindled at one flame / The world of rationals; one spirit pour'd / From Spirit's awful fountain; pour'd Himself / Through all their souls; but not in equal stream."

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)

Date: 1755, 1771

"The' etherial soul that Heaven itself inspires / With all its virtues, and with all its fires, / Led by these sirens to some wild extreme, / Sets in a vapour when it ought to beam; / Like a Dutch sun that in the' autumnal sky / Looks through a fog, and rises but to die."

— Cawthorn, James (1719-1761)

Date: 1773

"Yet of etherial temper are their souls, / And in their veins the tide of honour rolls; / And valour kindles there the hero's flame, / Contempt of death, and thirst of martial flame. / And pity melts the sympathizing breast, / Ah! fatal virtue!—for the brave distrest."

— Day, Thomas (1748-1789)