Date: 1715

"And the only Conception we can form of voluntary Motion is, that the Mind, like a skillful Musician, strikes upon the Nerve which conveys Animal Spirits to the Muscle to be contracted, and adds a greater Force than the natural to the nervous Juice"

— Cheyne, George (1671-1743)

Date: 1715

"My Fancy palls, and takes Distast at Pleasure; / My Soul grows out of Tune, it loaths the World, / Sickens at all the Noise and Folly of it."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

Date: 1715

"'Tis false! The thinking Soul is somewhat more / Than Symmetry of Atoms well dispos'd, / The Harmony of Matter."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

Date: 1713, 1719

"Thus I ran Divisions in my Fancy, which made but harsh Musick to my Interiour"

— Barker, Jane (1675-1743)

Date: February 22, 1723

"If this poor stock / Of artless beauty hath such fatal pow'r, / When you, Arsinoe, have a daughter born, / Beg all deformities of shape and face, / T'insure her quiet from that monster, man! / Who quitting reason, a celestial claim, / To the sweet harmony of souls prefers / A little white and re...

— Fenton, Elijah (1683-1730)

Date: February 22, 1723

"At this late hour, / What discord breaks the virtuous harmony, / Which wont to reign within thy pious breast?"

— Fenton, Elijah (1683-1730)

Date: 1724

"The Soul resides eminently in the Brain, where all the Nervous Fibres terminate inwardly, like a Musician by a well-tuned Instrument, which has Keys within, on which it may play, and without, on which other Persons and Bodies may also play."

— Cheyne, George (1671-1743)

Date: 1724

"One Law of the Action of the Soul on the Body, & vice versa, seems to be, That upon such and such Motions produced in the Musical Instrument of the Body, such and such Sensations should arise in the Mind; and on such and such Actions of the Soul, such and such Motions in the Body should ensue; m...

— Cheyne, George (1671-1743)

Date: 1724

"Since the Mind resides, as has been said, in the common Sensory, like a skilful Musician. by a well-tuned Instrument; if the Organ be found, duly tempered, and exactly adjusted, answering and corresponding with the Actions of the Musician, the Musick will be distinct, agreeable and harmonious."

— Cheyne, George (1671-1743)

Date: 1724

"Alas, my lord! even harmony grows harsh! / Thought's out o'tune, discord has struck my ear, / And my soul jars within me."

— Savage, Richard (1697/8-1743)