Date: 1790

"For what heart, / Not made of steel, could look on such a scene, / Three armies deep and strong, with countless horse, / Chariots untold, innumerable foot"

— Hurdis, James (1763-1801)

Date: 1791

"The generous Mind expanding into Joy, / While no mean Passion mixt its base Alloy;"

— Polwhele, Richard (1760-1838)

Date: 1791

"Hail to each ancient sacred shade / Of those, who gave the Muses aid, / Skill'd verse mysterious to unfold, / And set each brilliant thought in gold."

— Smart, Christopher (1722-1771)

Date: 1781, 1791

"Thou hast no flinty heart which cannot feel, / Thy bosom is not braced with chains of steel."

— Downman, Hugh (1740-1809)

Date: 1792

"Had not a persecuting spirit steel'd / Their breasts to momentary pardon prone."

— Polwhele, Richard (1760-1838)

Date: 1795

France "spurning base controul ... pluck'd the iron from her wounded soul [and] O'erthrew her proud Bastile, as with a charm"

— Hayley, William (1745-1820)

Date: 1795

"Disdaining even the thought of flight or fear, / His life, his soul, by steady valor steel'd."

— Pye, Henry James (1745-1813)

Date: 1797, 1810

"For pressure but new-springs the generous mind; /As gold by Vulcan's torture is refined."

— Stockdale, Percival (1736-1811)

Date: 1798

"For scenes that frequent views of death impart, / Nerve the bold arm, and steel the manly heart"

— Pye, Henry James (1745-1813)