Date: 1697

"It reach'd the inmost Marrow of the Brain / Where we perceive our Pleasures, and our Pain. / There where the Soul upon her Throne abides, / And from our Sight conceal'd her Empire guides: / Do's various Orders various Tasks dispence, / To all th'inferiour Ministers of Sence."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1697

"We are not pleas'd a glorious World to know, / Whereof our Senses no Impression show."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1697

"Reluctant Sense declines the untrodden Path, / Tho aided both by Reason and by Faith."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1697

"Amazing Power of Guilt! one great Offence / Benumbs the Mind, and stupifys the Sense, / Binds fast reluctant Conscience with its Charms, / And of its Sting the Worm within disarms."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1697

"Our Senses to the Mind while lodg'd in Clay, / Do all their various Images convey. / Things that we tast, and feel, and see, afford / The Seeds of Thought with which our Minds are stor'd."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1697

"Oh, let no groundless Prejudice oppose / The Light, that from so pure a Fountain flows. / May these kind Beams dispel the Clouds, and find / An unobstructed Passage to your Mind."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1697

"A lawless Rout of Passions still engage / In Nature's Cause with hideous Noise and Rage. / Reason is in the Tumult quite supprest, / And still the safest side we think the best."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1697

"Then climbs the Mind to the first glorious Cause, / And his bright Image by this Model draws. / Freedom of Choice, pure Intellectual Light, / Power Independent, Goodness Infinite, / To form the great Idea we unite."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1697

"At such Reflections do's not Nature start, / And try at every Spring to touch your Heart? / Do's not soft Pity's fire begin to burn, / Do not your yearning Bowels in you turn? / In such a case Breasts arm'd with temper'd Steel / And Hearts of Marble, should impression feel."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1697

"Th'impetuous Stress of Passion bears me down, / And the high tyde dos sinking Reason drown."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)