Date: 1712, 1715, 1719

"But Cordiala's vertuous Mein and Actions fasten'd his young Heart in the strong Bonds of an unalterable Affection, which he discover'd to her on all Occasions possible."

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

Date: 1719-1720, 1725

"You see, my Lord, said he with a Sigh, that I have put it out of her Power to triumph over my Weakness, for I confess my Heart still wears her Chains; but e'er my Eyes or Tongue betray to her the shameful Bondage, these Hands should tear them out."

— Haywood [née Fowler], Eliza (1693?-1756)

Date: 1721, 1722

"But you who have known how to break the chains which my mind itself had forged, how will you break those that tie my hands?"

— Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (1689-1755)

Date: 1722, 1739

"Rather discard this baneful Love, throw off the weighty Chains, banish the fair one from your Breast, return to your Country, be a Blessing to you Parents, and take this glorious Opportunity to free you from the Bondage of your Mind as well as Body."

— Aubin, Penelope (1679?-1731?)

Date: 1724

"These were my Baits, these the Chains by which the Devil held me bound; and by which I was indeed, too fast held for any Reasoning that I was then Mistress of, to deliver me from."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1724

"Madam, of what use is our Reason, if we chain it up when we most want it?"

— Davys, Mary (1674-1732)

Date: 1726

"[H]e promis'd me a thousand Fineries, gave me an handful of Gold, told me I should have a fine House of my own, a Coach and Servants, with all manner of Imbellishments to grace and adorn my Beauty; which Beauty (continu'd he) has chain'd my Heart, ever since the moment I beheld it in the Milline...

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

Date: 1727

"Jenny [said she] I am strangely embarrassed about this sleepy Fit you and I have had, and am entirely of the Doctor's Opinion, that it was no Natural Repose; yet where to place either the Deceit or Design of it I know not, but my whole Thoughts have been chained to that one single Subject all th...

— Davys, Mary (1674-1732)

Date: 1736

"To live without Restraint, is to live indeed, cry'd she, and I no longer wonder, that the free Mind finds it so difficult to yield to those Fetters, Priests and Philosophers would bind it in, and which were never forged by, nor are consistent with Reason."

— Haywood [née Fowler], Eliza (1693?-1756)

Date: 1744, 1753

"But this Agreement of Orgueil and his Wife, to bury Camilla's Father with Decency, by the Pleasure it gave her, renewed David's former Blindness, again enslaved his Mind to Orgueil, and fixed his Chain as strong as ever."

— Fielding, Sarah (1710-1768)