Date: 1651

"And as the Grindstone to unpolish'd Steel / Gives Edge, and Lustre: so my Mind, I feel / VVhetted, and glaz'd by Fortunes turning VVheel"

— Sherburne, Sir Edward (bap. 1616, d. 1702)

Date: 1675

"And tears run trickling down her face, / Would e'en have mov'd a heart of brass."

— Cotton, Charles (1630-1687); Lucian (c.120- d. after 180)

Date: 1693

"(Yet what smooth Sycophant by thee can gain? / When Lust it self strikes thy Flint-Heart in vain?)"

— Dryden, John (1631-1700) [Poem ascribed to]

Date: 1693

"Yet, thy moist Clay is pliant to Command; / Unwrought, and easie to the Potter's hand: / Now take the Mold; now bend thy Mind to feel / The first sharp Motions of the Forming Wheel."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1694, 1708

"At length, with more prevailing rage possest, / Her jealous honour steels her daring breast / The thoughts of injur'd fame new courage gave, / And nicer virtue now confirms her brave."

— Yalden, Thomas (1670-1736)

Date: 1697, 1700

"Nor think thy force too small, too weak thy Mind / Because to Clay unequally confined; / Its Power is wondrous Great; how small a Mass / Of Gold or Gems, exceeds vast Heaps of Brass?"

— Manilius, Marcus (fl. 1st Century AD), Creech, Thomas (1659-1700)

Date: 1700

"As softest metals are not slow to melt, / And pity soonest runs in gentle minds:"

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1704, 1715

"His fearless Heart immur'd with tripple Brass. / The daring Mortal surely wore"

— Brown, Thomas (bap. 1663, d. 1704)

Date: 1707, 1710

"But now I come to cure my fond Disease; / This Steel thy flinty Breast will surely please."

— Cobb, Samuel (bap. 1675, d. 1713)

Date: 1708

"For Folly has over-whelmed them, and, what they have sought after, has covered their Hearts like Rust; God has sealed up their Hearts and their Ears, and their Eyes are dim, and they shall have sore Punishment."

— Ockley, Simon (bap. 1679, d. 1720)