Date: 1719

I struggled with the Power of my Imagination, reason'd myself out of it, as I believe People may always do in like Cases, if they will; and, in a Word, I conquer'd it

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1719

"I thought he was not a Monarch only, but a great Conqueror; for that he that has got a Victory over his own exorbitant Desires, and has the absolute Dominion over himself, whose Reason entirely governs his Will, is certainly greater than he that conquers a City"

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1719

"But it was all to no Purpose, I had an irresistible Desire to the Voyage; and I told her, I thought there was something so uncommon in the Impressions I had upon my Mind for the Voyage, that it would be a Kind of resisting Providence, if I should attempt to stay at Home."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1719

"I was not so much surpriz'd with the Lightning, as I was with a Thought which darted into my Mind as swift as the Lightning it self: O my Powder!"

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: First performed February 17, 1720.

"She animates my Being, / And kindles up my Thoughts to worthy Actions."

— Hughes, John (1678?-1720)

Date: First performed February 17, 1720.

"The Threats of Death are nothing; / Tho' thy last Message shook his Soul, as Winds / On the bleak Hills bend down some lofty Pine; / Yet still he held his Root; till I found Means, / Abating somewhat of thy first Demand, / If not to make him wholly ours, at least / To gain sufficient to our End."

— Hughes, John (1678?-1720)

Date: First performed February 17, 1720.

"What were Dominion, Pomp, / The Wealth of Nations, nay of all the World, / The World it self, or what a thousand Worlds, / If weigh'd with Faith unspotted, heav'nly Truth, / Thoughts free from Guilt, the Empire of the Mind, / And all the Triumphs of a God-like Breast / Firm and unmov'd in the gr...

— Hughes, John (1678?-1720)

Date: First performed February 17, 1720.

"No more--thou waken'st in my tortur'd Heart / The cruel conscious Worm that stings to Madness. / O I'm undone!--I know it, and can bear / To be undone for thee, but not to lose thee."

— Hughes, John (1678?-1720)

Date: First performed February 17, 1720.

"O self-destroying Monster! that art blind, / Yet putt'st out Reason's Eyes, that still shou'd guide thee, / Then plungest down some Precipice unseen, / And art no more!--Hear me, all-gracious Heav'n!"

— Hughes, John (1678?-1720)

Date: First performed February 17, 1720.

"It wounds my Heart / To think thou follow'st but to share my Ruin."

— Hughes, John (1678?-1720)