Date: 1654

"We often see stones hang with drops not from any innate moisture, but from a thick air about them; so may we sometime see marble-hearted sinners seem full of contrition, but it is not from any dew of grace within but from some black clouds that impends them, which produces these sweating effects."

— Bradstreet, Anne (1612-1672)

Date: 1667

"Nor could they trouble us, but that our mind / Hath its own glory unto dross confin'd."

— Philips [née Fowler], Katherine (1632-1664)

Date: 1667

"So Age and Death by slow approches come, / And by that just inevitable doom / By which the Soul (her cloggy dross once gone) / Puts on Perfection, and resumes her own."

— Philips [née Fowler], Katherine (1632-1664)

Date: 1680

"I said you were all Mettle; A brazen face, a leaden brain, and a copper nose and beard."

— Behn, Aphra (1640?-1689)

Date: 1681

"[A] Woman has a sweet time on't with any Soldier Lover of 'em all, with their Iron minds and Buff hearts"

— Behn, Aphra (1640?-1689)

Date: 1686

"Or coldness, worse than Steel, the Loyal heart doth wound"

— Killigrew, Anne (1660-1685)

Date: 1686

A " Heav'n-born Mind" may have "no Dross to purge from [its] Rich Ore:"

— Killigrew, Anne (1660-1685)

Date: 1696

"His Resentment and Grief was too great not to be perceiv'd; therefore he took his leave somewhat abruptly; and when he had shifted his Disguise (which he always did at the Fryar's) he hastens to his dear Confident Castro, immediately tells him his Misfortune, how Cordelia was prepossess'd, had g...

— Pix, Mary (c.1666-1720)

Date: 1700

"Oh! all ye Powers that virtuous Love inspire, / Assist me now: inform my Vocal Organs / With Angel Eloquence, such as can melt / His Heart of Flint, and move his former Kindness."

— Centlivre [née Freeman; other married name Carroll], Susanna (bap. 1669?, d. 1723)

Date: 1700

"What Heart of Steel / Could ere resist such Beauty drest in Tears?"

— Centlivre [née Freeman; other married name Carroll], Susanna (bap. 1669?, d. 1723)