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

"His argument on topics of less absurdity is specious and acute, his manner is lively, his style forcible and clear; and, had not his vigorous mind been clouded by enthusiasm, he might be ranked with the most agreeable and ingenious writers of the times."

— Gibbon, Edward (1737-1794)

Date: 1796

"The cloud was now dissipated which had obscured his judgment; he shuddered when he beheld his arguments blazoned in their proper colours, and found that he had been a slave to flattery, to avarice, and self-love."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"He wrote these verses on his voyage to Cuba, when his mind was clouded by sorrow, and he forgot that he had a wife and children."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"He was still under the influence of this storm of passions, when he heard a gentle knock at the door of his cell."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"At the same time the cloud disappeared, and he beheld a figure more beautiful than fancy's pencil ever drew."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1796

"The storm of passion once over, he would have given worlds, had he possessed them, to have restored to her that innocence of which his unbridled lust had deprived her."

— Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818)

Date: 1801

A cloud may darkly over one's fancy play

— Burges, Sir James Bland (1752-1824)

Date: 1801

"Some fickle creatures boast a soul / True as the needle to the pole; / Yet shifting, like the weather, / The needle's constancy forego / For any novelty, and show / Its variations rather."

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

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)