Date: 1691

"Towards the end of which Chapter Evander confesses his Wit has a little run away with him; so ungovernable a thing is towring Fancy, when not hand-cufft by powerful Reason, flying out against Learning, beloved Learning, at so Satyrical a rate as almost makes his heart bleed to read it, when he t...

— Dunton, John (1659–1732)

Date: 1697

"Amazing Power of Guilt! one great Offence / Benumbs the Mind, and stupifys the Sense, / Binds fast reluctant Conscience with its Charms, / And of its Sting the Worm within disarms."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1699

"Our prepossessions and Affections bind / The Soul in Chains and lord it o'er the Mind."

— Pomfret, John (1667-1702)

Date: 1700

"What's all the noisy Jargon of the Schools, / But idle Nonsense of laborious Fools, / Who fetter Reason with perplexing Rules."

— Pomfret, John (1667-1702)

Date: 1700

"We seldome use our Liberty aright, / Nor Judge of Things by Universal Light; / Our Prepossessions and Affections bind / The Soul in Chains, and Lord it o're the Mind."

— Pomfret, John (1667-1702)

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: 1712

"She [the soul] does her Godlike Liberty secure: / Her Right and high Prerogative maintains, / Impatient of the Yoke, and scorns coercive Chains."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1718

"Reluctant Reason you'll in Fetters keep, / And lay th' insulting Judge within asleep."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1718

"O when shall my glad Soul releast / From these uneasy Chains of Clay, / To the bright Regions of the Blest / Wing with a Lover's Speed her Way?"

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1718

"Now, when unbridled Passions use to reign, / While vanquish'd Reason wears the Victor's Chain, / See Pleasure, fair and smiling as the Morn, / (Soft Silks her Limbs, gay Flow'rs her Head adorn) / Which with her Breath perfumes the ambient Air, / While sporting Zephyrs heave her golden Hair, / Mi...

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)