Date: 1721, 1722

"But you who have known how to break the chains which my mind itself had forged, how will you break those that tie my hands?"

— Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (1689-1755)

Date: 1724

"These were my Baits, these the Chains by which the Devil held me bound; and by which I was indeed, too fast held for any Reasoning that I was then Mistress of, to deliver me from."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1724

"Madam, of what use is our Reason, if we chain it up when we most want it?"

— Davys, Mary (1674-1732)

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)