Date: 1697

"Say you so, my Heart of Steel. Then let not your Noble Courage be cast down"

— Settle, Elkanah (1648-1724)

Date: 1697

"The Soul is placed in the Body like a rough Diamond and must be polish'd, or the lustre of it will never appear."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

Date: 1697

"What ever brought him here, or took him hence / It was no mean, or common influence, / Of Heavens best mettal, that inform'd his soul, / And made all vertue, but a blubr'd scrol / Of his great mind."

— Cleland, William (1661?-1689)

Date: 1697

"Our Senses to the Mind while lodg'd in Clay, / Do all their various Images convey. / Things that we tast, and feel, and see, afford / The Seeds of Thought with which our Minds are stor'd."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1697

"At such Reflections do's not Nature start, / And try at every Spring to touch your Heart? / Do's not soft Pity's fire begin to burn, / Do not your yearning Bowels in you turn? / In such a case Breasts arm'd with temper'd Steel / And Hearts of Marble, should impression feel."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1697

"Lord, strike this Marble Heart, thy powerful Stroke / Will make a Flood gush from the cleaving Rock. / O draw all Nature's Sluces up, and drain / Her Magazines, which liquid Stores contain."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1698

"I'll warrant him a true Englishman by that, come hearts of Gold, begin another Brimmer, come prosperity to Trade."

— D'Urfey, Thomas (1653?-1723)

Date: 1699

"Love then, that sweet procession of the Mind, / Was from all Dross, and Earthly Dreggs refin'd."

— Pomfret, John (1667-1702)

Date: 1699

"We suppose these original [or Natural] Impressions to be like Gold in the Oar, that may be refin'd; or rough Diamonds, that by polishing, receive a further lustre"

— Burnet, Thomas (c.1635-1715)

Date: 1700

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

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)