Tell me where is fancy bred,
Or in the heart, or in the head?
How begot, how read more

Tell me where is fancy bred,
Or in the heart, or in the head?
How begot, how nourished?
Reply, reply.
It is engend'red in the eyes,
With gazing fed, and fancy dies
In the cradle where it lies.

So full of shapes is fancy
That it alone is high fantastical.

So full of shapes is fancy
That it alone is high fantastical.

Woe to the youth whom Fancy gains,
Winning from Reason's hand the reins,
Pity and woe! for read more

Woe to the youth whom Fancy gains,
Winning from Reason's hand the reins,
Pity and woe! for such a mind
Is soft contemplative, and kind.

Let fancy still in my sense in Lethe steep;
If it be thus to dream, still let me sleep!

Let fancy still in my sense in Lethe steep;
If it be thus to dream, still let me sleep!

The difference is as great between
The optics seeing as the objects seen.
All manners take a read more

The difference is as great between
The optics seeing as the objects seen.
All manners take a tincture from our own;
Or come discolor'd through out passions shown;
Or fancy's beam enlarges, multiplies,
Contracts, inverts, and gives ten thousand dyes.

Fancy light from Fancy caught.

Fancy light from Fancy caught.

She's all my fancy painted her,
She's lovely, she's divine.

She's all my fancy painted her,
She's lovely, she's divine.

Ever let the Fancy roam,
Pleasure never is at home.

Ever let the Fancy roam,
Pleasure never is at home.

Two meanings have our lightest fantasies,
One of the flesh, and of the spirit one.

Two meanings have our lightest fantasies,
One of the flesh, and of the spirit one.