Date: 1664

"But that benefit which I consider most in it [rhyme], because I have not seldom found it, is, that it bounds and circumscribes the fancy: for imagination in a poet is a faculty so wild and lawless, that, like an high-ranging spaniel, it must have clogs tied to it, lest it outrun the judgment."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: Jun 12, 1668; 1671

"'Tis so wild [Wildblood's heart], that the Lady who has it in her keeping, would be glad she were well rid on't: it does so flutter about the Cage. 'Tis a meer Bajazet; and if it be not let out the sooner, will beat out the brains against the Grates."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: Jun 12, 1668; 1671

"But is not your heart of the nature of those Birds that breed in one Countrie, and goe to winter in another?"

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: November 1672, 1673

"Ay, ay, when the love is once come so far, that Spiritual Mind will never leave pulling, and pulling, till it has drawn the beastly body after it."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: November 4, 1672, 1673

"Thou Live, and yet speak against Drinking, the very thing that distinguishes the Life of Man from that of a Beast! Why, 'tis the onely Spur of Wit and Reason; I have heard more new thoughts in Drinking three hours, then the best Modern Play can furnish you with; Therefore if thou would'st Live, ...

— Payne, Henry [alias Henry Nevill] (d. 1705?)

Date: March 12, 1673

"I'le keep my Soul free as the Bird that flyes i'th Aire, / I'le ne'r love one, till I of all besides Despair."

— Ravenscroft, Edward (c.1650- c.1700)

Date: 1676

"Sorrow and remorse gnaw [the] soul"

— Etherege, Sir George (1636-1691/2)

Date: 1678

"But, like a mole in earth, busy and blind, / [the soul] Works all her folly up, and casts it outward / To the world's open view"

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1695

"I'll keep my Soul free, as the Bird that flies i'th' Air, / And ne'er Love one, till I of all the rest despair."

— Ravenscroft, Edward (c.1650- c.1700)

Date: 1696

The soul may leave "the reins in the wild hand of nature, who like a Phaeton, drives the fiery chariot, and sets the world on flame"

— Vanbrugh, Sir John (1664-1726)