Date: 1667

"So unconcern'd she lives, so much above / The Rubbish of a sordid Jail, / That nothing doth her Energy improve / So much as when those structures fail."

— Philips [née Fowler], Katherine (1632-1664)

Date: 1685

Tho' a World of dull Bullion your essence do's hold, / Scarce an Atom of Soul was cast into the Mould, / Room enough, and to spare lavish Nature allows, / But provides not a Tenant to suit with the House

— Wesley, Samuel, The Elder (bap. 1662, d. 1735)

Date: 1686, 1712

"When first my Soul put on its fleshly Load, / It was Imprison'd in the dark Abode; / My Feet were Fetters, my Hands Manacles, / My Sinews Chains, and all Confinement else; / My Bones the Bars of my loath'd Prison grate; / My Tongue the Turn-key, and my Mouth the Gate."

— Arwaker, Edmund (c.1655-1730)

Date: 1692

"This my lost Treasure to restore; / Thy magic vertues all apply, / Set up again my Bank-rupt memory. / Search every Cell and corner of my brain, / And bring my Fugitive again."

— Norris, John (1657-1712)

Date: 1692

"Suspence that torture of the Mind, / Long had our Thoughts in doubts dark Cave confin'd"

— Ames, Richard (bap. 1664?, d. 1692)

Date: 1693

"No, I will break this House of Clay, / Which clogs my fleeter Thoughts and Mind."

— Hawkshaw, Benjamin (1671/2-1738)

Date: 1697

"Thro' Helm and Skull the Fauchion passage found, / Cleft thro' the Brain, and ruin'd with the Wound / The curious Imag'ry by Fancy wrought, / All Mem'ry's Cells, and all the Moulds of Thought."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1702

"When Friends converse together Face to Face; / Then freely they Unbosom their Requests, / And treasure Secrets in each others Breasts, / As in firm Cabinets, close lock'd, where none / Can find the Key, but only each his own."

— Mollineux [née Southworth], Mary (1651-1695)

Date: 1709, 1810

"Yet the silly wand'ring mind, / Loth to be too much confin'd, / Roves and takes her daily tours, / Coasting round the narrow shores, / Narrow shores of flesh and sense, / Picking shells and pebbles thence: / Or she sits at fancy's door, / Calling shapes and shadows to her, / Foreign visits still...

— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)

Date: 1711

"The scorcht and pathless Desarts of the Brain, / Want proper Caves and Cells to entertain / A Crowd of airy Forms and long Ideal Train."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)