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: 1736

"To live without Restraint, is to live indeed, cry'd she, and I no longer wonder, that the free Mind finds it so difficult to yield to those Fetters, Priests and Philosophers would bind it in, and which were never forged by, nor are consistent with Reason."

— Haywood [née Fowler], Eliza (1693?-1756)

Date: 1742

"[H]e bewailed her Loss with Groans, which would have pierced any Heart but those which are possessed by some People, and are made of a certain Composition not unlike Flint in its Hardness and other Properties; for you may strike Fire from them which will dart through the Eyes, but they can never...

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

Date: 1742

"He had never contracted a Debt in his Life, and was consequently the less ready at an Expedient to extricate himself. Tow-wouse was willing to give him Credit 'till next time, to which Mrs. Tow-wouse would probably have consented (for such was Joseph's Beauty, that it had ma...

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

Date: 1743

"But surely his whole Behaviour to his Friend Heartfree is a convincing Proof, that the true Iron or Steel Greatness of his Heart was not debased by any softer Mettle."

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

Date: 1747-8

"Because a woman's heart may be at one time adamant, at another wax."

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)

Date: 1747-8

"Rot me if it be not my full persuasion, that if he had, her heart would have been found to be either iron or marble"

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)

Date: 1747-8

"'This, says he, I will for ever remember against her, in order to steel my own heart, that I may cut thro' a rock of ice to hers"

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)

Date: 1747-8

"Then will I steel my heart with these remembrances"

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)

Date: 1747-8

"But I have now once more steeled my heart."

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)