Date: 1661

"Such were Love's Ardors, he could scarce forbear / His fettering flesh, his free Soul's chaines, to tear."

— Pordage, Samuel (bap. 1633, d. c. 1691)

Date: 1691

"Why then shou'd I not pull up the stake, or get my Lock and Chain off, and scamper away in the interminable Fields of the invisible World."

— Dunton, John (1659–1732)

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: 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)

Date: 1718

"Should you presumptuous, quit your safer Ground, / And seek the utmost Lines, which Vertue bound, / And on the Frontier to engage the Foe, With Reason 's weak collected Forces go, / You'll soon those nice, ill-guarded Limits pass, / Throw down your Arms, and fond her Feet embrace, / In her soft ...

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1723

"Thou [God] only can'st the wond'rous Links descry / That Minds unbody'd to a Body tye."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)