Date: 1689

And yet there is, there is one prize / Lock'd in an adamantine Breast; / Storm that then, Love, if thou be'st wise, / A Conquest above all the rest, / Her Heart, who binds all Hearts in chains, / Castanna's Heart untouch'd remains."

— Cotton, Charles (1630-1687)

Date: 1697

"At such Reflections do's not Nature start, / And try at every Spring to touch your Heart? / Do's not soft Pity's fire begin to burn, / Do not your yearning Bowels in you turn? / In such a case Breasts arm'd with temper'd Steel / And Hearts of Marble, should impression feel."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1697

"Lord, strike this Marble Heart, thy powerful Stroke / Will make a Flood gush from the cleaving Rock. / O draw all Nature's Sluces up, and drain / Her Magazines, which liquid Stores contain."

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1703

"The true, substantial Wealth is lodg'd within; / 'Tis there the brightest Gems are found: / Such as wou'd great and glorious Treasures win, Treasures which theirs for ever will remain, / Must Piety and Wisdom strive to gain."

— Chudleigh [née Lee], Mary, Lady Chudleigh (bap. 1656, d. 1710)

Date: 1718

"The Soul is darker than the deepest Cave, / Hard as the Rock, and colder than the Grave"

— Blackmore, Sir Richard (1654-1729)

Date: 1733

"But if Calista's perfect Soul they knew, / They'd own their Error, and her Praise pursue. / Centred in her the brightest Graces meet, / Treasures of Knowledge and rich Mines of Wit

— Masters, Mary (1694-1771)

Date: 1739

"More hard than Marble is my Heart, / And foul with Sins of deepest Stain: / But Thou the mighty Saviour art, / Nor flow'd thy cleansing Blood in vain. / Ah! soften, melt this Rock, and may / Thy Blood wash all these Stains away."

— Wesley, John and Charles

Date: 1739

"My GOD, what is a Human Heart? / Silver or Gold, or precious Stone; / Or Star, or Rainbow; or a Part / Of All, or all thy World in One?"

— Wesley, John and Charles

Date: 1742

"My soul is dead, my heart is stone, / A cage of birds and beasts unclean, / A den of thieves, a dire abode / Of dragons, but no house of God."

— Wesley, John and Charles

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)