Date: 1717

"Some livelier Spark of Heav'n, and more refin'd / From earthly Dross, fills the great Poet's Mind."

— Duke, Richard (1658-1711)

Date: 1718

"The Soul is darker than the deepest Cave, / Hard as the Rock, and colder than the Grave"

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1723

"If offer'd in a mild and tim'rous Tone, / Nor urg'd and press'd, its [Counsel's] feeble Force is gone, / And leaves no more Impressions on the Mind, / Than Rocks receive from a soft Breeze of Wind."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1748

"the Persian Bands / In fearful Wonder ask; What God unseen / Such Pow'r bestow'd, and steel'd a Woman's Heart"

— Warton, Thomas, the elder (1688-1745)

Date: 1748

"These be now my Cares, / To leave the Muse for Virtue [...] but chief my Soul to steel / With adamantine Honour"

— Warton, Thomas, the elder (1688-1745)

Date: 1751

Religion shall "Shall purge their Minds from all impure Allays / Of sordid Selfishness and brutal Sense,"

— West, Gilbert (1703-1756)

Date: 1760

"Whene'er he visits us with Racks of Pain, / And speeds the rapid Fever in each Vein, / Our drossy Souls the potent Fire refines,/ Till the bright Ore in polish'd Beauty shines"

— Langhorne,William (1721-1772)

Date: 1763

"With firm resolves my steady bosom steel, / Bravely to suffer, tho' I deeply feel."

— Churchill, Charles (1731-1764)

Date: 1764

'In spring eternal, lay a plain / Where our brave fathers used to train / Their sons to arms, to teach the art / Of war, and steel the infant heart."

— Churchill, Charles (1731-1764)

Date: 1764

"Beyond this to awake our zeal, / To quicken our resolves, and steel / Our steady souls to bloody bent,"

— Churchill, Charles (1731-1764)