Date: 1741 [1740]; continued in 1741

"But my Weakness of Body made me move so slowly, that it gave Time for a little Reflection, a Ray of Grace, to dart in upon my benighted Mind; and so, when I came to the Pond-side, I sat myself down on the sloping Bank, and began to ponder my wretched Condition: And thus I reason'd with myself."

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)

Date: 1752

"A thousand tender Ideas rushed all at once on my Mind."

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

Date: 1752

"The Fear of which so affected the Serjeant, (for besides the Honour which he himself had for the Lady, he knew how tenderly his Friend loved her) that he was unable to speak; and had not his Nerves been so strongly braced that nothing could shake them, he had enough in his Mind to have set him a...

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

Date: 1752

"Upon the whole, however, she past a miserable and sleepless Night, her gentle Mind torn and distracted with various and contending Passions, distressed with Doubts, and wandring in a kind of Twilight, which presented her only Objects of different Degrees of Horrour, and where black Despair close...

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

Date: 1759

"Their grief, however, like their joy, was transient; every thing floated in their mind unconnected with the past or future, so that one desire easily gave way to another, as a second stone cast into the water effaces and confounds the circles of the first."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1792

"A thousand ideas seemed crowding upon my mind; but they have expelled each other as quickly as they came, and I scarcely know what to add."

— Holcroft, Thomas (1745-1809)

Date: 1794

"I shuddered at the possibility of his having overheard the words of my soliloquy. But this idea, alarming as it was, had not the power immediately to suspend the career of my reflections"

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)

Date: 1796

"He thought of his union with Antonia; he thought of the obstacles which might oppose his wishes; and a thousand changing visions floated before his fancy, sad 'tis true, but not unpleasing."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"As this last idea passed through his imagination, a blush spread itself over his cheek."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"At that moment a thousand confused ideas passed before my imagination."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)