Date: 1744

"Death, and his image rising in the brain, / Bear faint resemblance; never are alike: / Fear shakes the pencil; Fancy loves excess; / Dark Ignorance is lavish of her shades: And these the formidable picture draw."

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)

Date: 1744

"Our senses, as our reason, are Divine. / But for the magic organ's powerful charm, / Earth were a rude, uncolour'd chaos still. / Objects are but the' occasion: ours the' exploit; / Ours is the cloth, the pencil, and the paint, / Which Nature's admirable picture draws, / And beautifies Creation'...

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)

Date: 1744, 1772, 1795

"These flattering scenes / To this neglected labour court my song; / Yet not unconscious what a doubtful task / To paint the finest features of the mind, / And to most subtile and mysterious things / Give colour, strength, and motion."

— Akenside, Mark (1720-1771)

Date: 1767, 1784

"Shall we, because we strive in vain to tell / How Matter acts on incorporeal Mind, / Or how, when sleep has lock'd up ev'ry sense, / Or fevers rage, Imagination paints / Unreal scenes, reject what sober sense, / And calmest thought attest?"

— Jago, Richard (1715-1781)

Date: 1780, 1781, 1788

"Two passions there by soft contention please, / The love of martial Fame, and learned Ease: / These friendly colours, exquisitely join'd, / Form the enchanting picture of thy mind."

— Hayley, William (1745-1820)

Date: 1789

"Ah! hide for ever from my sight / The faithless flatterer Hope--whose pencil, gay, / Portrays some vision of delight, / Then bids the fairy tablet fade away; / While in dire contrast, to mine eyes / Thy phantoms, yet more hideous, rise, / And Memory draws, from Pleasure's wither'd flower, / Corr...

— Smith, Charlotte (1749-1806)

Date: 1792

"They bade retentive memory on their mind / Impress each image, in distinctive lines / That mock'd erasure."

— Polwhele, Richard (1760-1838)