Date: 1691
"Instead of those sage and grave Notions that used to fill my Head, 'twas cramm'd top full of Whimseys and Whirligigs, by the vehement agitation of my distemper'd Fancy, as ever a Carkase-shell with Instruments of Death and Murder."
preview | full record— Dunton, John (1659–1732)
Date: 1691
'My very Brains (as Manichæus's Skin) are stuff'd with Chaff."
preview | full record— Dunton, John (1659–1732)
Date: 1697
"Lord, strike this Marble Heart, thy powerful Stroke / Will make a Flood gush from the cleaving Rock. / O draw all Nature's Sluces up, and drain / Her Magazines, which liquid Stores contain."
preview | full record— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Date: 1697
"Prodigious was the Compass of his Mind, / Wide as his Love, which took in Humane Kind. / He Albion's Good, not Fame or Riches fought, / Generous, and open-hearted to a fault. / An unexhausted Magazin his Brain / Did all the Treasures of the Schools contain."
preview | full record— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Date: 1703
"The true, substantial Wealth is lodg'd within; / 'Tis there the brightest Gems are found: / Such as wou'd great and glorious Treasures win, Treasures which theirs for ever will remain, / Must Piety and Wisdom strive to gain."
preview | full record— Chudleigh [née Lee], Mary, Lady Chudleigh (bap. 1656, d. 1710)
Date: 1708
Now among other things of this kind which he discover'd, it appear'd to him that the Animal Spirit, which is Seal'd in the Heart (as we have mention'd before) must necessarily have some Quality superadded to its Corporeity, which rendred it capable of those wonderful Actions, different Sensations...
preview | full record— Ockley, Simon (bap. 1679, d. 1720)
Date: 1712
"When Objects thro' the Senses Passage gain, / And fill with various Imag'ry the Brain, / Th' Ideas, which the Mind does thence perceive,/ To Think and Know the first Occasion give."
preview | full record— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Date: 1723
"The Cells, and little Lodgings, Thou canst see / In Mem'ry's Hoards and secret Treasury; / Dost the dark Cave of each Idea spy, / And see'st how rang'd the crouded Lodgers lye; / How some, when beckon'd by the Soul, awake, / While peaceful Rest their uncall'd Neighbours take."
preview | full record— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Date: Tuesday, April 3, 1750
"He must fly from himself, either because he feels a tediousness in life from the equipoise of an empty mind, which, having no tendency to one motion more than another, but as it is impelled by some external power, must always have recourse to foreign objects; or he must be afraid of the intrusio...
preview | full record— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)
Date: Saturday, December 13, 1750
"The most important events, when they become familiar, are no longer considered with wonder or solicitude, and that which at first filled up our whole attention, and left no place for any other thought, is soon thrust aside into some remote repository of the mind, and lies among other lumber of t...
preview | full record— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)