"He too beholding in the sacred light / Of his essential reason, all the shapes / Of swift contingence, all successive ties / Of action propagated through the sum / Of possible existence, he at once, / Down the long series of eventful time, / So fix'd the dates of being, so dispos'd, / To every living soul of every kind / The field of motion and the hour of rest, / That all conspir'd to his supreme design, / To universal good."
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>
<br>
Text from Mark Akenside, <u>The Poems Of Mark Akenside</u> (London: W. Bowyer and J. Nichols, 1772).<br>
<br>
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>
<br>
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;