Date: May 10, 1704

"By the Pulpit are adumbrated the writings of our modern saints in Great Britain, as they have spiritualised and refined them from the dross and grossness of sense and human reason."

— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)

Date: 1720

"Nay more, when thou art dead, I won't leave thy Soul in Quiet--for I will go streight to thy House, break open they Chests, and scatter thy Gold and Silver, which is thy Soul"

— Molloy, Charles (d. 1767)

Date: 1725

"I will give you the saddest Account you have ever yet been entertain'd with; but you must wrap your Heart in a Case of Adamant, or it will melt away in the hearing of it."

— Davys, Mary (1674-1732)

Date: 1725

"If Artander's Heart were not as hard as the Rock he has been scrutinizing into, he wou'd never have laid such strict Injunctions on my Pen, and robb'd me of my darling Pleasure; but to let you see how ready I am to relinquish every thing that gives you uneasiness, I have, in compliance with my F...

— Davys, Mary (1674-1732)

Date: 1726

One may be galled "with Reproaches and Contempt, more heavy, and corroding into my Soul, than the Load and Rust of my Irons eating into my Flesh? "

— Southerne, Thomas (1659-1746)

Date: 1727

"He well knew a Plebeian Mind was never Proof against the Persuasive Power of Tempting Gold; a Metal which insensibly diffuses itself into every Sense we have, and by Art Magick forces a liking, though Death and Ruin be its Attendants."

— Davys, Mary (1674-1732)

Date: 1734, 1735

"Their dire Effects the Wretched feel: / Thy Waters turn the Heart to Steel."

— Barber, Mary (c.1685-1755)

Date: 1738

"Matchless Numbers! surely blest / Which cou'd touch that Iron Breast, / That ne'er before had Pity felt"

— Boyse, Samuel (1708-1749)

Date: 1738

"The Grecian Prince the Love of Virtue taught: / With Fortitude and Patience steel'd his Breast."

— Boyse, Samuel (1708-1749)

Date: 1738, 1792

"Love ... Give the soft sex to loathe inglorious rest, / String the weak arm, and steel the snowy breast!"

— Brooke, Henry (c. 1703-1783)