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: 1729

"Now in order to restore the Fibres of the Brain under the Melancholy Madness, and recover the Mind from those most gloomy, dejecting Circumstances, to which it is chain'd during the Force of this Disease, we must endeavour to bring their Machinulae into closer Contacts with each other; th...

— Robinson, Nicholas (c.1697–1775)

Date: 1730

"Thou golden chain 'twixt God and men, / Bless'd Reason! guide my life and pen."

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)

Date: 1731

"I've try'd all Arts my Passion to controul, / And still the giddy Tumult of my Soul; / But all in vain, no Charm has Strength to bind, / In lasting Chains, my wild disorder'd Mind."

— Thompson, Isaac (1703-1776)

Date: November 10, 1730

"The pleasing Pain, / The gentle Chain, / That constant Hearts unite, / Such Joy bestows, / That Freedom knows / No such sincere Delight."

— Lillo, George (1691/3-1739)

Date: 1731

"Or here on Earth in diff'rent Bodies plac'd, / Still Acts new Scenes, forgetful of the past: / Till from her dull material Chain set free, / (The mortal Curtain drawn) she smiles to see, / The various Prospects of Immensity."

— Boyse, Samuel (1708-1749)

Date: 1731

"Here Arlington, thy mighty Mind disdains / Inferior Earth, and breaks its servile Chains, / Aloft on Contemplations Wings you rise, / Scorn all below and mingle with the Skies."

— Boyse, Samuel (1708-1749)

Date: 1732

"Bind up bold Thought, in Slumber's silky Chain, / Since all we act, and all we know, is vain."

— Mitchell, Joseph (c. 1684-1738)

Date: 1733-5

"[Love's] Pleasures have so many Pains, / And leave such Stings behind, / That I'm resolv'd to quit the Chains, / And free my captive Mind."

— Bowden, Samuel (fl. 1733-1761)

Date: 1733

"For well you twist the secret chains that bind / With gentle force the captivated mind."

— Lyttleton, George, 1st Baron Lyttleton (1709-1773)