Date: 1708

"As if his hollow Skull had been / A Hive fill'd full of Bees within" who "To Wax and Honey turn'd his Brains; / For the long Speech he did transmit, / Was sometimes hard, and sometimes sweet"

— Ward, Edward (1667-1731)

Date: 1714

"For if vast Thoughts shou'd play about a Mind / Inclos'd in Flesh, and dregging cumbrous Life, / Fluttering and beating in the mournful Cage, / It soon wou'd break its Grates and wing away."

— Evans, Abel (1679-1737)

Date: 1742

"My soul is dead, my heart is stone, / A cage of birds and beasts unclean, / A den of thieves, a dire abode / Of dragons, but no house of God."

— Wesley, John and Charles

Date: 1742

"Carnal heart, immersed in sin, / All a cage of birds unclean!"

— Wesley, John and Charles