Date: 1786

"But if (which Pow'rs above prevent) / That iron-hearted carl, Want, / Attended, in his grim advances, / By sad mistakes, and black mischances"

— Burns, Robert (1759-1796)

Date: 1789

"There northern Kametzchatka's dreary strand, / And frozen Isles, your daring toils demand: / Again your British hearts of steel"

— Colvill, Robert (d. 1788)

Date: 1790

"But while those ancient philosophers endeavoured in this manner to suggest every consideration which could, as Milton says, arm the obdured breast with stubborn patience, as with triple steel; they, at the same time, laboured above all to convince their followers that there neither was nor could...

— Smith, Adam (1723-1790)

Date: 1791

"I will venture to say, that in no writings whatever can be found more bark and steel for the mind, if I may use the expression; more that can brace and invigorate every manly and noble sentiment."

— Boswell, James (1740-1795)

Date: 1793

"There, train'd amid slaughter and ruin to wade, / They toil in the heart-steeling, barbarous trade."

— Wilson, Alexander (1766-1813)

Date: 1794

"This Magnet, spite of nature's laws, / Still as more distant stronger draws, / And what's more strange, (too well I feel!) / Attracts all hearts but hearts of steel"

— Graham, James (1765-1811)

Date: 1794

"'What numerous ills in life befall! / 'Yet Wisdom learns to scorn them all, / 'And arms the breast with steel"

— Mickle, William Julius [formerly William Meikle] (1734-1788)

Date: 1796

"These upheld the soul, / As ribb'd with triple steel"

— Bruce, Michael (1746-1767)

Date: 1796

"E'en they th' impressive dart of love can feel, / Whose stubborn souls are sheath'd in triple steel."

— Falconer, William (bap. 1732, d. 1770)

Date: 1805

"Touched with my care, my tyrant may prove kind, / Nor let that form conceal an iron mind."

— Ossian; Macpherson, James (1736-1796)