Date: 1691

"This however I care not if I tell you--that the very hopes of Rambling, the Prospect of seeing a new Part of the World, or indeed a New World to me, striking upon the strings of my Soul, before wound to the same pitch, made most charming Musick, and had you seen then the young Evander--who now h...

— Dunton, John (1659–1732)

Date: 1692

"Watch her softest hours, when her Soul's in Tune to join with the Harmony of Love: After her Mind has been employ'd in Romances, Plays, and Novels, then nought but sweet Ideas fill her Soul, and Love can't be denied admittance, those having so well prepar'd its way."

— Gildon, Charles (1665-1724)

Date: 1697

"Thence thro' his Skull it passage did obtain, / And pierc'd the inmost Marrow of the Brain; / Where the melodious Strings of Sense are found / Up to a due and just extension wound; / All tun'd for Life, and fitted to receive / Th'harmonious strokes which outward Objects give."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1702

"Nay, yet more, / My Soul seems pleas'd to take acquaintance with thee, / As if ally'd to thine: Perhaps 'tis Sympathy / Of honest Minds; Like Strings wound up in Musick, / Where by one touch, both utter the same Harmony."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

Date: 1700, 1702

"Forget that thought, / That jarring grates your Soul, and turns the Harmony / Of blessed Peace to curst infernal Discord."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

Date: 1706

"Our Souls are out of Tune, we languish all, / Nor does the sweet Returning of the Dawn / Chear with its usual Mirth our drowzy Spirits, / That droop'd beneath the lazy leaden Night."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

Date: 1706

"Let ev'ry jarring Sound of Discord cease, / Tune all your Thoughts and Words to Beauty's Praise, / To Beauty, that with sweet and pleasant Influence / Breaks Life the Day-star from the chearful East."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

Date: 1709, 1714

"For this is the Effect, and this the Beauty of their Art; 'in vocal Measures of Syllables, and Sounds, to express the Harmony and Numbers of an inward kind; and represent the Beautys of a human Soul, by proper Foils, and Contrarietys, which serve as Graces in this Limning, and render this Musick...

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

Date: From Tuesd. Aug. 9. to Thursday Aug. 11. 1709

"We must take our Minds a Note or two lower, or we shall be tortur'd by Jealousy or Anger."

— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)

Date: From Tuesd. Sept. 13. to Thursd. Sept. 15. 1709

"The Strings of the Heart, which are to be touched to give us Compassion, are not so played on but by the finest Hand."

— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)