Date: 1735-6

"Britons! be firm!--nor let corruption sly / Twine round your heart indissoluble chains!"

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1735-6

"The steel of Brutus burst the grosser bonds / By Cæsar cast o'er Rome; but still remain'd / The soft enchanting fetters of the mind, / And other Cæsars rose."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1737

"Brave Souls when loos'd from this ignoble Chain / Of Clay, and sent to their own Heav'n again, / From Earth's gross Orb on Virtue's Pinions rise / In Æther wanton, and enjoy the Skies."

— Baker, Henry (1698-1774)

Date: 1738

"Happy, he who can unbind / The Chains that clog the fetter'd Mind!"

— Boyse, Samuel (1708-1749)

Date: 1739

"Ye happy minds, that free from mortal chains, / Possess the realms where boundless pleasure reigns, / That feel the force of those immortal fires, / And reach the bliss, to which my soul aspires."

— Rowe [née Singer], Elizabeth (1674-1737)

Date: 1739

"Long my imprison'd spirit lay, / Fast bound in sin and nature's night: / Thine eye diffused a quickening ray; / I woke; the dungeon flamed with light; / My chains fell off, my heart was free, / I rose, went forth, and follow'd Thee."

— Wesley, John and Charles

Date: 1739

"To usher forth the Virtues of the Mind! / From Nature's Chain, from Earthly Dross set free, / One only Appetite remained in Thee."

— Wesley, John and Charles

Date: 1740

"In vain we forge coercive Chains, to bind / The strongest, noblest Passion of the Mind."

— Duck, Stephen (1705-1756)

Date: 1741

"Poor Mind, who heard all with extreme moderation, / Thought it now time to speak, and make her allegation: / ''Tis I that, methinks, have most cause to complain, / Who am cramped and confined like a slave in a chain.'"

— Carter, Elizabeth (1717-1806)

Date: 1741

"He knew, that vain was ev'ry Art, design'd / To check the Freedom of the humane Will; / That Restraints could shackle up the Mind, / Which, self-determin'd, kept her Empire still."

— Ogle, George (1704-1746)