"Where virtue, rising from the awful depth / Of truth's mysterious bosom, doth forsake / The unadorn'd condition of her birth; / And dress'd by fancy in ten thousand hues, / Assumes a various feature, to attract, / With charms responsive to each gazer's eye, / The hearts of men."
The Pleasures of Imagination
Over 33 entries in the ESTC (1744, 1748, 1754, 1758, 1759, 1763, 1765, 1767, 1768, 1769, 1771, 1775, 1777, 1780, 1786, 1788, 1794, 1795, 1796).<br>
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Text from Mark Akenside, <u>The Poems Of Mark Akenside</u> (London: W. Bowyer and J. Nichols, 1772).<br>
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Compare the poem as first published: Mark Akenside, <u>The Pleasures of Imagination: A Poem. In Three Books.</u> (London: Printed for R. Dodsley 1744). &lt;<a href="http://name.umdl.umich.edu/004832460.0001.000">Link to ECCO-TCP</a>&gt; &lt;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=vy0GAAAAQAAJ">Link to Google Books</a>&gt;<br>
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Also reading <u>The Pleasures of Imagination</u> (Otley, England: Woodstock Books, 2000), which reprints <u>The Pleasures of Imagination. By Mark Akenside, M.D. to Which Is Prefixed a Critical Essay on the Poem, by Mrs. Barbauld.</u> (London: Printed for T. Cadell, jun. and W. Davies, (successors to Mr. Cadell), 1795). &lt;<a href="http://estc.bl.uk/T85421">Link to ESTC</a>&gt;