Date: 1721

"Our Soul, as from a broken Snare / A Bird escapes, is fled."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1722

"When religious passions, namely, love, desire, hope and delight are exalted in the highest degree, and agitate the soul with the greatest vehemence, while reason presides as sovereign, holds the reins, and directs all their motions; this is so far from being a wild and extravagant temper of mind...

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1738, 1742

"See what obnoxious Vices still remain, / Which there's no Law, no Bridle, to restrain."

— Cooke, Thomas (1703-1756)

Date: 1745

"Keep strongly in the hot rebellious Mind, / Be it with Bits restrain'd, and Curbs confin'd. / The docile Horse in prime of Years is broke / To bear the Rein, or stretch beneath the Yoke."

— Whaley, John (bap. 1710, d. 1745)

Date: 1749

People may "Bridle their passions and direct their will"

— Stepney, George (1663-1707)

Date: 1775, 1776

"'Let Meekness as a dove / 'Brood in man's heart the sacred acts of Love."

— Jerningham, Edward (1727-1812)

Date: 1779

"Sorrow may well possess the mind / That feeds where thorns and thistles grow"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

Reveries are "flimsy webs that break as soon as wrought" and don't attain "to the dignity of thought"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

The mind may slumber sweetly in vice's snares, her "polish'd neck" bent beneath tyranny's "usurp'd command"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

"His passions tamed and all at his control, / How perfect the composure of his soul!"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)