Date: 1689

And yet there is, there is one prize / Lock'd in an adamantine Breast; / Storm that then, Love, if thou be'st wise, / A Conquest above all the rest, / Her Heart, who binds all Hearts in chains, / Castanna's Heart untouch'd remains."

— Cotton, Charles (1630-1687)

Date: 1691

"By Law and Inclination doubly joyn'd, / Both acted by one Sympathetick Mind. / Whom Wedlock's Silken Chains as softly tye, / As that which when asunder snapt, we dye, / Which makes the Soul and Body's wondrous harmony."

— Ames, Richard (bap. 1664?, d. 1692)

Date: Licens'd Decemb. 22. 1691

"Madam, it is no small demonstration of the entire Resignation which I have made of my Heart to your Chains, since the secrets of it are no longer in my power."

— Congreve, William (1670-1729)

Date: 1696

"I told you, Sir, I shou'd appear a Riddle to you: But if my Heart will give me leave, I'le now unloose your fetter'd Apprehension."

— Cibber, Colley (1671-1757)

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: 1682, 1683, 1709

"At length from Love's vile Slave'ry I am free, / And have regain'd my Ancient Liberty: / I've shook the Chains off which my Bondage wrought, / Am free as Air, and unconfin'd as Thought."

— Gould, Robert (b. 1660?, d. in or before 1709)

Date: 1719-1720, 1725

"You see, my Lord, said he with a Sigh, that I have put it out of her Power to triumph over my Weakness, for I confess my Heart still wears her Chains; but e'er my Eyes or Tongue betray to her the shameful Bondage, these Hands should tear them out."

— Haywood [née Fowler], Eliza (1693?-1756)

Date: November 9, 1779

"Thus, conscience freed from ev'ry clog, / Mahometans eat up the hog."

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: w. 1789, 1804

"Can Mammon's votaries vainly hope to bind, / In shining shackles, his immortal Mind?"

— Woodhouse, James (bap. 1735, d. 1820)