Date: 1651

"Many erroneous opinions are about the essence and original of [the rational soul]; whether it be fire, as Zeno held; harmony, as Aristoxenus; number, as Xenocrates; whether it be organical, or inorganical; seated in the brain, heart or blood; mortal or immortal; how it comes into the body."

— Burton, Robert (1577-1640)

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: 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: 1711

"Such noble Vital Instruments are fit / For Reason's Works, and beauteous Turns of Wit. / With finer Strokes they move the tender Strings / Tun'd in the Brain, whence clear Perception springs."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1712

"How is the Image to the Sense convey'd? / On the tun'd Organ how the Impulse made? / How, and by which more noble Part the Brain / Perceives th'Idea, can their Schools explain? / 'Tis clear, in that Superior Seat alone / The Judge of Objects has her secret Throne."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1725

"The Features of every single Passion must be known; the Relation which that Passion bears to another, must be discover’d; and the Harmony and Discord which result from them must be felt."

— Gally, Henry (bap. 1696, d. 1769)

Date: Tuesday, November 20, 1750

"Yet, if we consider the conduct of those sententious philosophers, it will often be found, that they repeat these aphorisms, merely because they have somewhere heard them, because they have nothing else to say, or because they think veneration gained by such appearances of wisdom, but that no id...

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1751

"Another Source of mutual Misapprehension on this Subject hath been 'the Introduction of metaphorical Expressions instead of proper ones.' Nothing is so common among the Writers on Morality, as 'the Harmony of Virtue'—'the Proportion of Virtue.'"

— Brown, John (1715-1766)

Date: Saturday, January 25, 1752

"Whatever may be the native vigour of the mind, she can never form many combinations from few ideas, as many changes cannot be rung upon a few bells."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1755

"Think not these Tears unnerve me, valiant Friends: / They have but harmoniz'd my Soul; and waked / All that is Man within me, to disdain / Peril, or Death."

— Brown, John (1715-1766)