Date: 1682

"Each step you take, hales me a step more near / To the cold Grave: (nor is't an idle Fear) / For know, my Soul to you is chained fast, / And if you make such cruel, fatal hast, / Must quit it's Seat, and be so far unkind, / To leave my fainting, breathless Trunk behind."

— Ephelia (fl. 1679-1682)

Date: 1703

"Weary'd at last, curst Hymen's Aid I chose; / But find the fetter'd Soul has no Repose."

— Egerton [née Fyge; other married name Field], Sarah (1670-1723)

Date: 1703

"Ye holy Souls, who from your Bondage free, / Have reach'd th' inmost Mansions of the Skie, / And there, those dazling Glories see, / Which lie / Beyond the utmost Ken of a weak mortal Eye."

— Chudleigh [née Lee], Mary, Lady Chudleigh (bap. 1656, d. 1710)

Date: 1713

"An equal Partner in the vanquish'd Earth, / A Brother, not impos'd upon my Birth, / Too weak a Tye unequal Thoughts to bind, / But by the gen'rous Motions of the Mind."

— Finch [née], Anne, Countess of Winchilsea (1666-1720)

Date: w. before June 1735?

"Let vows or benefits the vulgar bind, / Such ties can never chain th' intrepid mind."

— Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley [née Lady Mary Pierrepont] (1689-1762)

Date: 1739

"Ye happy minds, that free from mortal chains, / Possess the realms where boundless pleasure reigns, / That feel the force of those immortal fires, / And reach the bliss, to which my soul aspires."

— Rowe [née Singer], Elizabeth (1674-1737)

Date: 1741

"Poor Mind, who heard all with extreme moderation, / Thought it now time to speak, and make her allegation: / ''Tis I that, methinks, have most cause to complain, / Who am cramped and confined like a slave in a chain.'"

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: 1741

"'I've a friend,' answers Mind, 'who, though slow, is yet sure, / And will rid me at last of your insolent power: / Will knock down your walls, the whole fabric demolish, / And at once your strong holds and my slavery abolish: / And while in your dust your dull ruins decay, / I'll snap off my cha...

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: 1747

"SINCE freed from Love's enchanting Pains, / Your Heart no longer wears my Chains"

— Lennox, née Ramsay, (Barbara) Charlotte (1730/1?-1804)

Date: w. 1736, 1749

"Why should I drag along this life I hate, / Without one thought to mitigate the weight? / Whence this mysterious bearing to exist, / When every joy is lost, and every hope dismissed? / In chains and darkness wherefore should I stay, / And mourn in prison, while I keep the key?"

— Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley [née Lady Mary Pierrepont] (1689-1762)