Date: 1785

"Heav'ns! of how cynnical a Nature / The school-taught Race of ALMA MATER! / Who, of cramp'd Mind and clouded Brain / Bind GENIUS in a Gothic Chain."

— Polwhele, Richard (1760-1838)

Date: 1785

"While affection fond as fair, / Forms a chain of every hair, / A chain, which round the willing mind, / Sensibility shall bind."

— Pratt, Samuel Jackson [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749-1814)

Date: 1785

"In fetters confined Our body complains, / Oppress'd is our mind , With heavier chains."

— Wesley, Charles (1707-1788)

Date: 1787

"What force can free the mind that Vice has chain'd, / Or clear the current if the fountain's stain'd?"

— Pye, Henry James (1745-1813)

Date: 1787

"Her's [Gaul's] was the earliest boast with lenient care / To form soft Courtesy's attractive air; / Throw o'er the willing mind Politeness' chains, / And raise that empire which she yet maintains."

— Pye, Henry James (1745-1813)

Date: 1787

"The increasing powers of ripening sense pervade / The gloomy stillness of the cloister's shade, / Destroy the bonds that Reason's force confin'd, / And burst the fetters that enchain'd the mind."

— Pye, Henry James (1745-1813)

Date: 1788

"But still the vigour of my soul I keep, / And its keen anger burst the bonds of sleep."

— Hayley, William (1745-1820)

Date: 1788

"See the fond links of feeling nature broke! / The fibres twisting round a parent's heart, / Torn from their grasp, and bleeding as they part."

— More, Hannah (1745-1833)

Date: 1788

"When the sharp iron wounds his inmost soul, / And his strain'd eyes in burning anguish roll; / Will the parch'd negro find, ere he expire, / No pain in hunger, and no heat in fire?"

— More, Hannah (1745-1833)

Date: 1788

"On Eloquence, prevailing art! / Whose force can chain the list'ning heart; / The throb of Sympathy inspire, / And kindle every great desire; / With magic energy controul / And reign the sov'reign of the soul!"

— Williams, Helen Maria (1759-1827)