Date: 1755

Samuel Johnson has a "well-turn'd mind" and a "genius pure, as gold refin'd"

— Derrick, Samuel (1724-1769)

Date: 1756, 1766

"And as to gold's being so yielding and ductile by human art, it is to be observed, that in return it exerts a greater power on the human mind. "

— Amory, Thomas (1690/1-1788)

Date: 1759

"Bid them ne'er remit / Their high heroic ardor;--let them know, / Whate'er shall fall on this old mould'ring clay, / The tyrant never shall subdue my mind."

— Murphy, Arthur (1727-1805)

Date: 1759

"My soul with pleasure takes her flight, that thus / Faithful in death, I leave these cold remains / Near thy dear honour'd clay."

— Murphy, Arthur (1727-1805)

Date: 1760-7

"Honours, like impressions upon coin, may give an ideal and local value to a bit of base metal; but Gold and Silver will pass all the world over without any other recommendation than their own weight."

— Sterne, Laurence (1713-1768)

Date: 1760-7

"There was the great king Aldrovandus, and Bosphorus, and Capadocius, and Dardanus, and Pontus, and Asius,--to say nothing of the iron-hearted Charles the XIIth, whom the Countess of K***** herself could make nothing of"

— Sterne, Laurence (1713-1768)

Date: 1761

"Inspiration pure impart, / Nerve her Arms and steel her Heart."

— Bickerstaff, Isaac (b. 1733, d. after 1808)

Date: 1760-1761, 1762

"A mind too vigorous and active, serves only to consume the body to which it is joined, as the richest jewels are soonest found to wear their settings."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

Date: 1764

"Against ev'ry virtue the bosom to steel, / And only of dress the anxieties feel"

— Murphy, Arthur (1727-1805)

Date: 1764

"Shall the winged Inhabitants of Air come tamely to the Hand that feeds them; and shall Man steel his Heart against all Impressions of Kindness, and all Sentiments of GRATITUDE?"

— Gentleman, Francis (1728-1784)