Date: 1678

"But, like a mole in earth, busy and blind, / [the soul] Works all her folly up, and casts it outward / To the world's open view"

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1695

"I'll keep my Soul free, as the Bird that flies i'th' Air, / And ne'er Love one, till I of all the rest despair."

— Ravenscroft, Edward (c.1650- c.1700)

Date: 1696

The soul may leave "the reins in the wild hand of nature, who like a Phaeton, drives the fiery chariot, and sets the world on flame"

— Vanbrugh, Sir John (1664-1726)

Date: 1696

"He that strives not to Stem his Angers Tide, / Does a Mad Horse without a Bridle ride."

— Cibber, Colley (1671-1757)

Date: May 1701

"I am gone--oh my Transported Soul,... That like a Bird fain to its nest wou'd fly, / But finds all Plunder'd where it us'd to lye."

— D'Urfey, Thomas (1653?-1723)

Date: 1702

"But then reflecting that I might possibly o'er-hear some part of their Discourse, and by that judge of Leonora's Thoughts, I rein'd my Passion in; and by the help of an advancing Buttress, which kept me from their sight, I learnt the black Conspiracy."

— Vanbrugh, Sir John (1664-1726)

Date: 1700, 1702

"Thought is Damnation, 'tis the Plague of Devils. / To think on what they are! and see this Weapon / Shall shield me from it, plunge me in forgetfulness. / Er'e the dire Scorpion Thought can rouse to sting me."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

Date: November 25, 1707; 1708

"Now, now it shoots, / It tow'rs upon the Wing to Crowns and Empire; / While Love and Aribert, those meaner Names, / Are left far, far behind, and lost for ever. / So if by chance the Eagle's noble Off-spring, / Ta'en in the Nest, becomes some Peasant's Prize, / Compell'd a while he bears his Cag...

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

Date: November 25, 1707; 1708

"In vain they lavish all their cruel Arts, / And bind this feeble Body here in vain; / The free, impassive Soul mounts on the Wing, / Beyond the reach of Racks, and tort'ring Flames, / And scorns their Tyranny."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

Date: November 25, 1707; 1708

"Call back your Thoughts from each deluding Passion, / And wing your parting Soul for her last Flight."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)