Date: w. 1788-93, 1796 (rev. 1815, 1827, 1837, 1897)

"But this obscurity sometimes proceeds from a mixture of light and darkness in the author's mind; from a partial ray which strikes upon an angle, instead of spreading itself over the surface of an object."

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: 1796

"He pronounced the most severe sentences upon offenders, which the moment after compassion induced him to mitigate: he undertook the most daring enterprizes, which the fear of their consequences soon obliged him to abandon: his inborn genius darted a brilliant light upon subjects the most obscure...

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: October 4, 1802

"Ah! from the soul itself must issue forth / A light, a glory, a fair luminous cloud / Enveloping the Earth--"

— Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1772-1834)

Date: 1803

Genius may "separate the clouds by error spread, / Till all the gloom is vanquish'd, and the light / Of intellectual day wide-blazing streams"

— Downman, Hugh (1740-1809)

Date: w. c. 1800-1807, 1866

"The Questioner who sits so sly / Shall never know how to Reply / He who replies to words of Doubt / Doth put the Light of Knowledge out"

— Blake, William (1757-1827)

Date: w. c. 1800-1807, 1866

"We are led to Believe a Lie / When we see not Thro the Eye / Which was Born in a Night to perish in a Night / When the Soul Slept in Beams of Light / God Appears & God is Light / To those poor Souls who dwell in Night / But does a Human Form Display / To those who Dwell in Realms of day"

— Blake, William (1757-1827)

Date: 1804

"Thro' Error's maze, thro' Folly's night, / The lamp of Reason lends me light"

— Langhorne, John (1735-1779)

Date: 1805

"And Thou, Minerva, pr'ythee say, / Why with so bright a mental ray, / And all that marks the blue-ey'd Maid, / Hast thou this favour'd Boy array'd?"

— Pratt, Samuel Jackson [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749-1814)

Date: 1806

"Tho' party-zeal inflam'd his iron heart, / And prejudice sharp pointed ev'ry dart; / With glowing thoughts, his mind profusely teem'd."

— Jerningham, Edward (1727-1812)

Date: 1807

"Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart."

— Wordsworth, William (1770-1850)