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Date: c. 1680

"The Vitall Spirits apprehend thereby / Exposde to danger great suburbs ly, / The which they do desert, and speedily / The Fort of Life the Heart, they Fortify, / The Heart beats up still by her Pulse to Call / Out of the outworks her train Souldiers all / Which quickly come hence."

— Taylor, Edward (1642-1729)

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Date: 1691

"'Tis uncertain whether the Fellow I'm about telling you a merry Story of, had been Dancing at a May-pole or no, but sure enough he was got finely Fox'd some where or other i'the Strand, and staid at it till the Watch was set--and then homeward he Rambled as his brutish Carcase cou'd direct him, ...

— Dunton, John (1659–1732)

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Date: 1700, 1717

"This Helenus to great AEneas told, / Which I retain, e'er since in other Mould: / My Soul was cloath'd; and now rejoice to view / My Country Walls rebuilt, and Troy reviv'd anew, / Rais'd by the fall: Decreed by Loss to Gain; / Enslav'd but to be free, and conquer'd but to reign."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

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Date: 1702

"The Vices common to her Sex, can find / No room, e'en in the Suburbs of her Mind."

— Pomfret, John (1667-1702)

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Date: Tuesday, June 14, to Thursday, June 16, 1709

"This way of application to gain a lady's heart, is taking her as we do towns and castles, by distressing the place, and letting none come near them without our pass."

— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)

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Date: From Tuesday May 30. to Thursday June 1. 1710

"In a Word, the Beauties and the Charms of Nature and of Art court all my Faculties, refresh the Fibres of the Brain, and smooth every Avenue of Thought. What pleasing Meditations, what agreeable Wanderings of the Mind, and what delicious Slumbers, have I enjoyed here?"

— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)

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Date: 1715

I have a Thought--but wherefore said I one, / I have a thousand Thoughts all up in Arms, / Like populous Towns disturb'd at dead of Night, / That mixt in Darkness bustle to and fro, / As if their Business were to make Confusion.

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

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Date: 1722

"And here indeed I have been often put upon a serious Consideration, how such a Heap of Pultis like Matter, a kind of Quag or Bog, and which as Sydenham observes, carries so little Analogy in its Form, and appears seemingly so unlikely to manage an Office of Intelligence, should yet be qualified ...

— Turner, Daniel (1667-1741)

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Date: 1737, 1743

"The People all running to the Capital City, is like a Confluence of all the Animal Spirits to the Heart; a Symptom that the Constitution is in Danger."

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

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Date: 1743

"My Mind was like a City up in Arms, all Confusion; and every new Thought was a fresh Disturber of my Peace."

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

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The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.