Date: January 25, 1698/9; 1708

"But the Truth is, my Thoughts never look towards Dublin now, without casting such a Cloud upon my Mind, and laying such a Load of fresh Sorrow on me for the Loss of my dear Friend, your Brother, that I cannot without Displeasure turn them that Way; and when I do it I find my self very unfit for ...

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: Tuesday, June 28, to Thursday, June 30, 1709

"Speak the speech as I pronounce it to you, trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of our players do, I had as lieve the town-crier had spoke my lines: nor do not saw the air too much with your hand thus; but use all gently: for in the very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say, the...

— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)

Date: Saturday, May 12, 1711

"The Thoughts will be rising of themselves from time to time, tho' we give them no Encouragement; as the Tossings and Fluctuations of the Sea continue several Hours after the Winds are laid."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: Monday, December 3, 1711

"A good Name is fitly compared to a precious Ointment2, and when we are praised with Skill and Decency, 'tis indeed the most agreeable Perfume, but if too strongly admitted into a Brain of a less vigorous and happy Texture, 'twill, like too strong an Odour, overcome the Senses, and prove pernicio...

— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)

Date: Tuesday, January 22, 1712

"Upon examining this Liquor [in the pericaridum of the coquet], we found that it had in it all the Qualities of that Spirit which is made use of in the Thermometer, to shew the Change of Weather."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: Saturday, May 17, 1712

"Mirth is like a Flash of Lightning, that breaks thro a Gloom of Clouds, and glitters for a Moment; Chearfulness keeps up a kind of Day-light in the Mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual Serenity."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: January 2, 1769

"Every seminary of learning may be said to be surrounded with an atmosphere of floating knowledge, where every mind may gather somewhat congenial to its own original conceptions."

— Reynolds, Joshua (1723-1792)

Date: 1782

"[A] sultry calm fails not to produce a storm, which dissipates the noxious vapours, and restores a purer air; the fiercest tempest, exhausted by its own violence, at length subsides; and an intense sun-shine, whilst it parches up the thirsty earth, exhales clouds, which quickly water it with ref...

— Jenyns, Soame (1704-1787)

Date: 1783

"The utmost we can expect is, that this fire of imagination should sometimes flash upon us like lightning from heaven, and then disappear."

— Blair, Hugh (1718-1800)