Date: 1722

One's head and heart may be "on the rack" about something worrisome

— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)

Date: 1722

"I had now such a Load on my Mind that it kept me perpetually waking."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1722

"[T]he Truth is, he ought to have been trusted with every Thing; for no Man could deserve better of a Wife; but this was a thing I knew not how to open to him, and yet having no Body to disclose any Part of it to, the Burthen was too heavy for my Mind."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1722

"[P]erhaps, said I, it may be some poor Widow like me, that had pack'd up these Goods to go and sell them for a little Bread for herself and a poor Child, and are now starving and breaking their Hearts, for want of that little they would have fetch'd, and this Thought tormented me worse th...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1722

"[B]ut he was really to be pityed in one respect that he seem'd to be a good sort of a Man in himself; a Gentleman that had no harm in his Design; a Man of Sense, and of a fine Behaviour; a comely handsome Person, a sober and solid Countenance, a charming beautiful Face, and every thing that cou'...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1722

"I had the Name of an old Offender, so that I had nothing to expect but Death, neither had I myself any thoughts of escaping, and yet a certain strange Lethargy of Soul possess'd me, I had no Trouble, no Apprehensions, no Sorrow about me, the first Surprize was gone; I was, I may well say, I know...

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1723

"But turn the Tables and reflect, / All may not be, that you suspect: / By the Mind's Eye, the Horns, we mean, / Are only in Ideas seen, / 'Tis from the inside of the Head / Their Branches shoot, their Antlers spread; / Fruitful Suspicions often bear them, / You feel 'em from the Time you fear 'em."

— Prior, Matthew (1664-1721)

Date: 1723

"Does thy Soul sicken, while thy Body's sound?"

— Amhurst, Nicholas (1697-1742)

Date: February 22, 1723

"O Sir! reflect, if thus / The bare recital wounds your fancy now, / A yet more dreadful pain may pierce your heart!"

— Fenton, Elijah (1683-1730)

Date: 1722, 1723

"Lord! whatsoever Sorrows Rack my Breast, / Till Crime removes too, let me find no Rest."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)