Date: 1786, 1787, 1788; 1789

"So poignant a mind in a vulgariz'd shell,/ Resembles a bucket of gold in a well; / 'Tis like Ceylon's best spice in a rude-fashion'd jar, / Or Comedy coop'd in a Dutch man of war."

— Williams, John [pseud. Anthony Pasquin] (1754-1818)

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 have a mind more equal, not of steel / My heart is form'd, but much to pity inclined."

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1791

"My son! oh how could so severe a word / Escape thy lips? my fortitude of mind / Thou know'st, and even now shalt prove me firm / As iron, secret as the stubborn rock."

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1791

"Thou hast an iron heart! / For should that savage man and faithless once / Seize and discover thee, no pity expect / Or reverence at his hands"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1791

"Thou hast an heart of iron, terrour-proof."

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1791

"Hard was his lot, whom these rare qualities / Preserved not, neither had his dauntless heart / Been iron, had he 'scaped his cruel doom."

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1791

"I will encounter him, though his hands be fire, / Though fire his hands, and his heart hammer'd steel."

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1791

"Thy heart is steel"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1791, 1800

"Then from the iron tablet of my mind, / Will I efface my catalogue of wrongs."

— Williams, John [pseud. Anthony Pasquin] (1754-1818)