Date: w. before 1717? (first published 1989)

"But he who servily can wish or grieve / For that which is not in his powr to give / Casts off the firmness wch shoud make him great / the strongest shield we can oppose to fate / letts inclinations grow & thus he weaves / Those very bonds which keep us passions slaves."

— Parnell, Thomas (1679-1718)

Date: 1718

"Reluctant Reason you'll in Fetters keep, / And lay th' insulting Judge within asleep."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1718

"Pierce this treacherous Heart, which Vice so long has held in Chains."

— Molloy, Charles (d. 1767)

Date: 1781

"Pardon me, madam, his heart was not only free from that lady's chains, but absolutely captivated by another."

— Cowley [née Parkhouse], Hannah (1743-1809)

Date: 1718

"Then Hymen's sacred Bonds shall chain / My Heart to her fair Bosom, / There, while my Being does remain, / My Love more fresh shall blossom."

— Ramsay, Allan (1684-1758)

Date: 1718

"O when shall my glad Soul releast / From these uneasy Chains of Clay, / To the bright Regions of the Blest / Wing with a Lover's Speed her Way?"

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1718

"Now, when unbridled Passions use to reign, / While vanquish'd Reason wears the Victor's Chain, / See Pleasure, fair and smiling as the Morn, / (Soft Silks her Limbs, gay Flow'rs her Head adorn) / Which with her Breath perfumes the ambient Air, / While sporting Zephyrs heave her golden Hair, / Mi...

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1718

"Should you presumptuous, quit your safer Ground, / And seek the utmost Lines, which Vertue bound, / And on the Frontier to engage the Foe, With Reason 's weak collected Forces go, / You'll soon those nice, ill-guarded Limits pass, / Throw down your Arms, and fond her Feet embrace, / In her soft ...

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: January 16, 1719

"No, Madam, I say, not that I mean to use my Power, I tell you only what it is, my Heart has broke your Chain, I claim no Right over you."

— Johnson, Charles (1679?-1748)

Date: 1719

"Pensive and pale desponding / Albion sate, / And hourly waited her impending Fate; / 'Till George arose, in every Grace design'd, / To stop the Ruin, and defend Mankind, / To break the Fetters which our selves had wrought, / And free from Bondage the aspiring Thought."

— Amhurst, Nicholas (1697-1742)