Date: 1690, 1694, 1695, 1700, 1706
"In all these cases, Ideas in the Mind, quickly fade, and often vanish quite out of the Understanding, leaving no more footsteps or remaining Characters of themselves, than Shadows do flying over fields of Corn; and the Mind is as void of them, as if they never had been there."
preview | full record— Locke, John (1632-1704)
Date: 1691
"I cannot conceive the true Cause hereof [that Men of Learning are uncouth in their discourse], unless it be, that as Plants are Choakt by over-much Moisture, and Lamps are Stifl'd with too much Oil; so are the Actions of the Mind overwhelm'd by over-abundance of Matter and Study."
preview | full record— Blount, Thomas Pope, Sir (1649-1697)
Date: 1698
"This sort of Musick warms the Passions, and unlocks the Fancy, and makes it open to Pleasure like a Flower to the Sun."
preview | full record— Collier, Jeremy (1650-1726)
Date: 1704
"Wherefore consecrate the first Fruits of Reason to God; you can't begin the Practice of Piety too soon, but may be too late; Nature untainted with Vice may be wrought with ease into any Form, and cast in any Mould"
preview | full record— Darrell, William (1651-1721)
Date: 1708
"And this misgrounded Conceit of his, had like to have firmly rooted itself in his Mind, unless God had pursu'd him with his Mercy, and directed him by his gracious Guidance; and then he perceiv'd that it arose from the Relicks of that Obscurity which is natural to Body, and the Dregs of sensible...
preview | full record— Ockley, Simon (bap. 1679, d. 1720)
Date: 1711
"When Fancy makes superior Flight her Aim, / Wing'd with this vig'rous, clear seraphick Flame, / She ranges Nature's universal Frame; / Bright Seeds of Thought from various Objects takes, / Whence her fair Scenes and Images she makes: / Spirits so swift, so fine, so bold, so strong, / Gave Milton...
preview | full record— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Date: 1711
"Your Hearts, as barren as your Rocks and Sand, / Her Charms and pow'rful Influence withstand; / Whose heav'nly Rays defeated thence recoil, / Like Sun-Beams wasted on unfruitful Soil."
preview | full record— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Date: 1711
"These Spirits rais'd from Choler to the Brain, / Like those extracted from the basest Grain, / Impure and crude, produce unnatural Heat, / And an ignoble Flame of Life create."
preview | full record— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Date: 1712
"The Crimson Jets rais'd with Elastic Force / Swift to the Seats of Sense pursue their Course; / Arterial Streams thro' the soft Brain diffuse, / And water all its Fields with vital Dews."
preview | full record— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)
Date: Saturday, June 28, 1712
"By this means they awaken other Ideas of the same Sett, which immediately determine a new Dispatch of Spirits, that in the same manner open other Neighbouring Traces, till at last the whole Sett of them is blown up, and the whole Prospect or Garden flourishes in the Imagination."
preview | full record— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)