Date: 1686, 1712

"When first my Soul put on its fleshly Load, / It was Imprison'd in the dark Abode; / My Feet were Fetters, my Hands Manacles, / My Sinews Chains, and all Confinement else; / My Bones the Bars of my loath'd Prison grate; / My Tongue the Turn-key, and my Mouth the Gate."

— Arwaker, Edmund (c.1655-1730)

Date: 1686, 1712

"O! that some usual Labour were injoyn'd, / And not the Tyrant Vice enslav'd my mind! / No weight of Chains cou'd grieve my captive Hands, / Like the loath'd Drudg'ry of its base Commands."

— Arwaker, Edmund (c.1655-1730)

Date: June 28, 1693

"Beauties shine thro' the Work, adorn the whole, / Chain up the Sense, and captivate the Soul."

— Tate, Nahum (c. 1652-1715)

Date: 1693

"From her blest Heart there flows a Line, / Which Nature made, and grapples mine. / Secret as that which tyes the Mind, / When to the Body 'tis confin'd"

— Hawkshaw, Benjamin (1671/2-1738)

Date: w. 1694-1698, 1989

"Wn to my soul thou'st spoken peace / When from its bonds thou wilt my soul release / all my mourning then shall cease."

— Parnell, Thomas (1679-1718)

Date: 1700

"They cannot, no; each sigh Love's flight sustains, / O'er my own Heart in my own Breast he Reigns, / And holds too strong, my strugling Soul in Chains."

— Hopkins, John (b. 1675)

Date: w. 1702-1713

"Loos'd from ye chains of flesh his freer mind / Rose up to sacred love, / To perfect saint or seraphim refin'd, / Quitting his lump of clay, / As subtle spirits fume away / Loos'd from their earth they upward mount, they flye, / They light, they shine, & blaze along the skye."

— Parnell, Thomas (1679-1718)

Date: w. before 1717? (first published 1989)

"But he who servily can wish or grieve / For that which is not in his powr to give / Casts off the firmness wch shoud make him great / the strongest shield we can oppose to fate / letts inclinations grow & thus he weaves / Those very bonds which keep us passions slaves."

— Parnell, Thomas (1679-1718)

Date: 1731

"Or here on Earth in diff'rent Bodies plac'd, / Still Acts new Scenes, forgetful of the past: / Till from her dull material Chain set free, / (The mortal Curtain drawn) she smiles to see, / The various Prospects of Immensity."

— Boyse, Samuel (1708-1749)

Date: 1731

"Here Arlington, thy mighty Mind disdains / Inferior Earth, and breaks its servile Chains, / Aloft on Contemplations Wings you rise, / Scorn all below and mingle with the Skies."

— Boyse, Samuel (1708-1749)