Date: 1676

"Can that blind faculty the Will be free, / When it depends upon the Understanding??

— Shadwell, Thomas (1642-1692)

Date: 1676

The understanding argues before the will can choose and "the last Dictate of the Judgment sways / The Will, as in a Balance, the last Weight / Put in the Scale, lifts up the other end"

— Shadwell, Thomas (1642-1692)

Date: 1676

"All objects are ready form'd and plac'd / To our hands; and these the Senses to the Mind convey, / And as those represent them, this must judge: / How can the Will be free, when the Understanding, / On which the Will depends, cannot be so"

— Shadwell, Thomas (1642-1692)

Date: May 25, 1676

"I'th' worst of Prisons I'll my Body bind, / Rather than Chain my free-born mind, / For such a foolish Toy."

— Shadwell, Thomas (1642-1692)

Date: July 25, 1676; 1677

"Therefore keep back the heart you come to restore, mine from this hour shakes off your bonds, and that you may not again enslave it, this day I will put it under the protection of one who is at least as fair as you."

— Ravenscroft, Edward (c.1650- c.1700)

Date: 1676

"Would I had daggers, darts, or poisoned arrows in my breast, so I could but remove the thoughts of him from thence!"

— Etherege, Sir George (1636-1691/2)

Date: 1677

"Love does all day the Soules great Empire keep, / But Wine at night Lulls the soft God asleep."

— Behn, Aphra (1640?-1689)

Date: 1677

"I have a Mint in my Brain, and I'l coin so much for you both presently."

— Ravenscroft, Edward (c.1650- c.1700)

Date: 1677

"My Habit is the Mirror of my Mind, little do you know the value of this outside"?

— D'Urfey, Thomas (1653?-1723)

Date: 1677

"But when Love held the Mirror, the undeceiving Glass / Reflected all the weakness of my Soul, and made me know / My richest treasure being lost, my Honour, / All the remaining spoil cou'd not be worth / The Conqueror's Care or Value."

— Behn, Aphra (1640?-1689)