Date: 1718 [first published 1684-1694]

"I am indeed of Opinion, that the Ancients called Man 'Phos', that is 'Light', so that from the Affinity of their Natures, strong desires are bred in Mankind, of continually seeing and being seen to each other: Nay some Philosophers hold the Soul it self to be essentially LIGHT, which among other...

— Plutarch (c. 46-120)

Date: 1719, 1720

"For, says he, PUNS are like so many Torch-Lights in the Head, that give the Soul a very distinct View of those Images, which she before seemed to groap after as if she had been imprisoned in a Dungeon."

— Sheridan, Thomas (1687-1738)

Date: w 1710, 1720

"Whilst like the Lamp's last Flame, their trembling Souls / Are on the Wing to leave their mortal Goals."

— Ramsay, Allan (1684-1758)

Date: 1722

"Sages Illumin'd with interiour Light, [...] have foretold, how Wallace great in Arms, / Shall fill our Plains with War and fierce Alarms."

— Hamilton, William, of Gilbertfield (c. 1665-1751)

Date: 1722

"Or that as the Rays of Light from the Sun are instantly transmitted to all the sublunary Parts of the great World; so hence the Sensitivum Quid, in like Manner, through the nervous Tubes, having here their Origin, should as suddenly as those Rays darted from that great Luminary, be likewi...

— Turner, Daniel (1667-1741)

Date: 1723, 1740

Love is a "glorious Sun within our Souls, / Whose Influence so much controuls; / Ev'n dull and heavy Lumps of Love, / Quicken'd by [it], more lively move"

— Sheffield, John, first duke of Buckingham and Normanby (1647-1721)

Date: February 22, 1723

"If my Flaminius ever wou'd reward / My constant ardor, with an equal flame; / Engag'd by such endearing decencies, / As make the lamp of love in Herod's breast / To burn so bright, and never to consume."

— Fenton, Elijah (1683-1730)

Date: 1724

"As a Stone in a Wall, fastened with Mortar, compressed by surrounding Stones, and involved in a Million of other Attractions, cannot fall to the Earth, nor sensibly exert its natural Gravity, no, not so much as to discover there is such a Principle in it; just so, the intelligent Soul, in this h...

— Cheyne, George (1671-1743)

Date: 1724

"I not upbraid your love, but your wild passions, / Which wou'd, like envious shades, eclipse those beauties, / That else, with justice, sure, must charm mankind!"

— Savage, Richard (1697/8-1743)

Date: Monday, August 24. 1724

"Like Divinities quitting their Shrines, they disrobe themselves of their Bodies; and intermingle their meeting Minds, as we see Two Lights incorporate.--Their Souls glide out, from their Eyes, to snatch Embraces, at a Distance; and return, inrich'd, with the fancy'd Treasure."

— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)