Date: 1676

"Music so softens and disarms the mind."

— Etherege, Sir George (1636-1691/2)

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

"Lastly, [sin] grows into a strong Man, and doth of it self run up and down our Little World, invade all the Faculties of Soul and Body, which are at last made the Instruments of Satan to act and fulfill it."

— Dunton, John (1659–1732)

Date: 1691

"Instead of those sage and grave Notions that used to fill my Head, 'twas cramm'd top full of Whimseys and Whirligigs, by the vehement agitation of my distemper'd Fancy, as ever a Carkase-shell with Instruments of Death and Murder."

— Dunton, John (1659–1732)

Date: 1693

"Those Senses lost, behold a new defeat; / The Soul, dislodging from another seat."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700) [Poem ascribed to]

Date: 1696

"Is your heart made of that impenetrable Mould, that Sighs and Prayers are vain Batteries; or doth some hidden happy Youth rob me of my desir'd Prize? She blusht at that, and he observ'd it."

— Pix, Mary (c.1666-1720)

Date: 1703

"Calista now be wary, / And guard thy Soul's Accesses with Dissembling; / Nor let this Hostile Husband's Eyes explore / The warring Passions, and tumultuous Thoughts, / That rage within thee, and deform thy Reason."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

Date: 1707

"See, see, he smiles amidst his Trance, / And shakes a visionary Lance, / His Brain is fill'd with loud Alarms, / Shouting Armies, clashing Arms, / The softer Prints of Love deface; / And Trumpets sound in ev'ry Trace."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: 1710, 1714

"He shou'd set afoot the powerfullest Facultys of his Mind, and assemble the best Forces of his Wit and Judgment, in order to make a formal Descent on the Territorys of the Heart: resolving to decline no Combat, nor hearken to any Terms, till he had pierc'd into its inmost Provinces, and reach'd ...

— Cooper, Anthony Ashley, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)

Date: 1711

"While Passions in their Breasts ungovern'd rage, / Distract the Mind, and War intestine wage, / Reason divine from her high Throne descends, / Lays by her Scepter, and her Pow'r suspends."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)