Date: 1691

"This however I care not if I tell you--that the very hopes of Rambling, the Prospect of seeing a new Part of the World, or indeed a New World to me, striking upon the strings of my Soul, before wound to the same pitch, made most charming Musick, and had you seen then the young Evander--who now h...

— Dunton, John (1659–1732)

Date: 1691

"Reason and Sense do from thy Concords fly, / For th' Human Soul it self's but Harmony."

— Heyrick, Thomas (bap. 1649. d. 1694)

Date: 1692

"Watch her softest hours, when her Soul's in Tune to join with the Harmony of Love: After her Mind has been employ'd in Romances, Plays, and Novels, then nought but sweet Ideas fill her Soul, and Love can't be denied admittance, those having so well prepar'd its way."

— Gildon, Charles (1665-1724)

Date: 1697

"Thence thro' his Skull it passage did obtain, / And pierc'd the inmost Marrow of the Brain; / Where the melodious Strings of Sense are found / Up to a due and just extension wound; / All tun'd for Life, and fitted to receive / Th'harmonious strokes which outward Objects give."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1700, 1705

"Wit, like the jangling Chimes, rings all in one, / Till Sense, the Artist, sets them into Tune."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1701

"Which are but tantalizing Amusements that debauch our Genius when they are once over, and Fatigue allows us a serious interval; with what regret do we reflect upon our Folly, in letting our Appetites govern our Reason, and like the Sirens Song charm us into Ruine."

— Baker, Thomas (b. 1680-1)

Date: 1702 [but see also earlier editions 1648, 1651]

"My Soul untun'd, unstrung, doth wait on Thee / To teach her how to sing thy MYSTERY."

— Beaumont, Joseph (1616-1699)

Date: 1702

"Nay, yet more, / My Soul seems pleas'd to take acquaintance with thee, / As if ally'd to thine: Perhaps 'tis Sympathy / Of honest Minds; Like Strings wound up in Musick, / Where by one touch, both utter the same Harmony."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

Date: 1700, 1702

"Forget that thought, / That jarring grates your Soul, and turns the Harmony / Of blessed Peace to curst infernal Discord."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

Date: May 10, 1704

"And I think the reason is easy to be assigned: for there is a peculiar string in the harmony of human understanding which, in several individuals, is exactly of the same tuning. Thus, if you can dexterously screw up to its right key and then strike gently upon it, whenever you have the good fort...

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)