Nor must we expect to receive by a sudden afflatus a complete acquaintance with some subject of which we are entirely ignorant.
"The Law and the Word"
Thomas Troward
Even in his day the reviewers saw that there was no difference between Scott's verse and prose stories as far as the quality of the poetry was concerned; indeed they saw that there was more of the divine afflatus in the latter than there was in the former.
"The Literature of Ecstasy"
Albert Mordell
One of the band, as if seized with special inspiration, heaving and panting under the foul afflatus, shrieks out the confession of some sin against the holy rites, and claims the penalty from his own hands.
"Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius"
Samuel Dill