Date: 1687

"Ah Cynthia! That the blasts of Sighs I vent, / Could ease my Breast of cloudy Discontent, / Which still with fresh Assaults renews my Pain."

— Ayres, Philip (1638-1712)

Date: 1697

"What inward Whips my tortur'd Bowels tear? / Fierce Vipers twist their Spires about my Heart, / And Bite, and Sting, and Wound with deadly smart. / With more than Atlas weight my Soul's opprest, / And raging Tempests beat along my breast: / Corroding Flames eat thro' my burning veins, / And all ...

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1700

"Who travels Scotus swelling Tomes shall find / A Cloud of Darkness rising on the Mind."

— Pomfret, John (1667-1702)

Date: 1712

"When threat'ning Tides of Rage and Anger rise, / Usurp the Throne, and Reason's Sway despise, / When in the Seats of Life this Tempest reigns, / Beats thro' the Heart, and drives along the Veins, / See, Eloquence with Force perswasive binds / The restless Waves, and charms the warring Winds: Res...

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1712

"Strong as the Winds, and sprightly as the Light? / She [the mind] moves unweary'd, as the active Fire, / And, like the Flame, her Flights to Heav'n aspire."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1714

"Storms of neighbouring Atoms tear the Soul"

— Evans, Abel (1679-1737)

Date: 1723

"Can Lictors able in Dispute dispell / The Clouds of Errour that involve the Mind, within?"

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1764

Reason may be clouded

— Churchill, Charles (1731-1764)

Date: 1767, 1784

"But if foul Passion, or distemper'd Pride, / Impede its search, or Phrenzy seize the brain, / Then Ignorance a gloomy darkness spreads, / Or Superstition, with mishapen forms, / Erects its savage empire in the mind."

— Jago, Richard (1715-1781)

Date: 1784

"Thy piercing thought / Unaided saw each movement of the mind, / As skilful artists view the small machine, / The secret springs and nice dependencies, / And to thy mimic scenes, by fancy wrought / To such a wond'rous shape, th'impassion'd breast / In floods of grief, or peals of laughter bow'd, ...

— Jago, Richard (1715-1781)