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: 1656

"Thales argued, that the Load-stone, and Amber had soules; the first because it drawes Iron, the second Straw."

— Stanley, Thomas (1625-1678)

Date: 1657

"But like true steel my heart doth pant, / To touch the long'd for Adamant."

— Bold, Henry (1627-1683)

Date: 1662

The "active soul doth not consume with rust"

— Watkyns, Rowland (c. 1614-1664)

Date: 1664

"Their Hearts are as hard, as Iron too, / As tough, but not so cold."

— Bold, Henry (1627-1683)

Date: 1667

"Nor could they trouble us, but that our mind / Hath its own glory unto dross confin'd."

— Philips [née Fowler], Katherine (1632-1664)

Date: 1667

"So Age and Death by slow approches come, / And by that just inevitable doom / By which the Soul (her cloggy dross once gone) / Puts on Perfection, and resumes her own."

— Philips [née Fowler], Katherine (1632-1664)

Date: 1673

"[Y]our whole frame [is] as innocent, and holy, as if your being were all soul and spirit, without the gross allay of flesh and bloud"

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1680

"I said you were all Mettle; A brazen face, a leaden brain, and a copper nose and beard."

— Behn, Aphra (1640?-1689)

Date: 1681

"[A] Woman has a sweet time on't with any Soldier Lover of 'em all, with their Iron minds and Buff hearts"

— Behn, Aphra (1640?-1689)