Date: 1753
One may "stoop, with Locke, the Gleams of Thought to scan, / The Infant's dawning Ray, the Noon of Man"
preview | full record— Jones, Henry (1721-1770)
Date: 1755
"Now Night her highest Noon ascends, / And o'er the Globe her Shades extends: / While all her shining Lamps of Light, / The Soul to solemn Thought invite."
preview | full record— Tollet, Elizabeth (1694-1754)
Date: 1755
"Oh let me now thy tender Mercy find, / With thy free Grace illuminate my Mind, / Let me no more the Slave of Passion be, / But turn my wand'ring Thoughts to Heav'n and thee."
preview | full record— Masters, Mary (1694-1771)
Date: March 1756
"The thought-kindling light, / Thy prime production, darts upon my mind / Its vivifying beams, my heart illumines, / And fills my soul with gratitude and Thee."
preview | full record— Smart, Christopher (1722-1771)
Date: 1757
"The lamp of sense, that glows in ev'ry breast, / Nature illumes, that man may stand confest"
preview | full record— Boyce, Samuel (d. 1775)
Date: 1758
"Let inward beauty charm the mental sight; / Let godlike Reason, beaming bright, / Chase far away each gloomy shade, / Till VIRTUE's heav'nly form display'd / Alone shall captivate my soul, / And her divinest love possess me whole!"
preview | full record— Mulso [later Chapone], Hester (1727-1801)
Date: 1758
"While in your hearts the flames of love may burn, / To dress the vault, like lamps in sacred urn."
preview | full record— Parnell, Thomas (1679-1718)
Date: 1759
"Beware of Self-deceit, that wily cheat, / Which blinds bright Intellect with vain Conceit; / Conceit sees Nothing in its real Light, / All Things alike delude its cheated Sight."
preview | full record— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)
Date: 1760
"Dim burns the Lamp of Life; this Breast heaves slow; / My Soul shall soon the last sad Journey go."
preview | full record— Langhorne,William (1721-1772)
Date: 1760
"On clouds, where Fancy's beam amusive plays, / Shall heedless Hope the towering fabric raise?"
preview | full record— Beattie, James (1735-1803)