Similes in-period

I had already realised that I can't use "live-wire" to describe a character in the 17th century; it has now dawned upon me that I can't use the analogy of a child's jerky clockwork toy either. Nineteenth-century, yes; seventeenth, no :-p

(I decided to go for the miller releasing the pent-up mill-stream as an idea of jostling, uneven energy...)