Date: 1748
"Let godlike reason, from her sovereign throne, / Speak the commanding word 'I will!' and it is done."
preview | full record— Thomson, James (1700-1748)
Date: Saturday, November 17, 1750
"[F]or most minds are the slaves of external circumstances, and conform to any hand that undertakes to mould them, roll down any torrent of custom in which they happen to be caught, or bend to any importunity that bears hard against them."
preview | full record— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)
Date: 1751, 1777
"Another spring of our constitution, that brings a great addition of force to moral sentiment, is, the love of fame; which rules, with such uncontrolled authority, in all generous minds, and is often the grand object of all their designs and undertakings."
preview | full record— Hume, David (1711-1776)
Date: 1755
"As I grew up, I too soon perceived a rancourous Disposition towards me, attended with Malice prepense, to destroy that Power I had in the Hearts of both my Parents, where I was perhaps judged to sit too triumphant, and maintained my Seat of Empire in my Mother's to her latest Moments."
preview | full record— Charke [née Cibber; other married name Sacheverell], Charlotte [alias Mr Brown] (1713-1760)
Date: June, 1756
"But soul-rejoicing health again returns, / The blood meanders gentle in each vein, / The lamp of life renew'd with vigour burns, / And exil'd reason takes her seat again-- / Brisk leaps the heart, the mind's at large once more, / To love, to praise, to bless, to wonder and adore."
preview | full record— Smart, Christopher (1722-1771)
Date: Performed Dec 1756, published 1757
"Within my bosom reigns another lord; / Honour, sole judge and umpire of itself."
preview | full record— Home, John (1722-1808)
Date: 1759
"To Faith, and Reason, an impartial Friend, / He marks the Bounds, where they begin, and end; / Whilst he, to both, distinct Dominions gives, / Th'instructed Reader reasons, and believes."
preview | full record— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)
Date: 1760-7
"When a man gives himself up to the government of a ruling passion,--or, in other words, when his Hobby-Horse grows head-strong,--farewell cool reason and fair discretion!"
preview | full record— Sterne, Laurence (1713-1768)
Date: 1760-7
"Could no such thing as favour and affection enter this sacred Court [of Conscience]:--Did Wit disdain to take a bribe in it;--or was asham'd to shew its face as an advocate for an unwarrantable enjoyment?"
preview | full record— Sterne, Laurence (1713-1768)
Date: 1760-7
"Or, lastly, were we assured, that Interest stood always unconcern'd whilst the cause was hearing,--and that passion never got into the judgment-seat, and pronounc'd sentence in the stead of reason, which is supposed always to preside and determine upon the case."
preview | full record— Sterne, Laurence (1713-1768)