"'Fancy enervates, while it sooths, the heart, / 'And, while it dazzles, wounds the mental sight: / 'To joy each heightening charm it can impart, / 'But wraps the hour of wo in tenfold night."
The Minstrel; or, the Progress of Genius. A Poem.
Over 20 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1771, 1772, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1779, 1782, 1784, 1785, 1792, 1794, 1795, 1797, 1799, 1800). Collected in <u>The Muse's Pocket Companion</u>, <u>The Bouquet, A Selection of Poems</u>, and <u>A Classical Arrangement of Fugitive Poetry</u>.<br>
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"Book The First" printed anonymously in 1771; reprinted in 1772, 1774, etc. The second book was first printed in 1774. See David Radcliffe's <a href="http://spenserians.cath.vt.edu/TextRecord.php?action=GET&textsid=34808">Spenser and the Tradition</a>.<br>
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See <u>The Minstrel; or, the Progress of Genius. A Poem. Book the First.</u> (London: Printed for E. & C. Dilly, in the Poultry, and for A. Kincaid & J. Bell, Edinburgh, 1771). &lt;<a href="http://estc.bl.uk/T39397">Link to ESTC</a>&gt;<br>
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Text from <u>Poems on Several Occasions, by James Beattie, LL. D. Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Aberdeen.</u> (Edinburgh: Printed for W. Creech, 1776). &lt;<a href="http://estc.bl.uk/T138978">Link to ESTC</a>&gt;