Date: 1700

"As softest metals are not slow to melt, / And pity soonest runs in gentle minds:"

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1704, 1715

"His fearless Heart immur'd with tripple Brass. / The daring Mortal surely wore"

— Brown, Thomas (bap. 1663, d. 1704)

Date: 1707, 1710

"But now I come to cure my fond Disease; / This Steel thy flinty Breast will surely please."

— Cobb, Samuel (bap. 1675, d. 1713)

Date: 1708

"For Folly has over-whelmed them, and, what they have sought after, has covered their Hearts like Rust; God has sealed up their Hearts and their Ears, and their Eyes are dim, and they shall have sore Punishment."

— Ockley, Simon (bap. 1679, d. 1720)

Date: 1710 [1719, 1729]

"[N]o alloy / Of Flesh" can destroy the "sprightly Beauties" of the soul "Nor Death nor Fate can snatch the lasting Joy. / Through ev'ry Limb the active Spirit flows;
Diffusing Life and Vigour as it goes, / But is it self unmixt, and free from Dross"

— Oldisworth, William (1680-1734)

Date: 1710 [1719, 1729]

"Black Night comes on, and interrupts the Day, / E'er it can chase the Mists and Fogs away; / The Dregs of Flesh and Drossy Lees, o'errun / The Soul, and weigh the strugling Spirit down:"

— Oldisworth, William (1680-1734)

Date: 1714, 1723

"Tormenting Doubts my troubled Soul perplex, / But my steel'd Breast no certain Fears can vex."

— Hughes, Jabez (1685-1731)

Date: 1715-1720

"Proud as he is, that Iron-heart retains / Its stubborn Purpose, and his Friends disdains"

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

Date: 1715-1720

"Is then the dire Achilles all your Care? / That Iron Heart, inflexibly severe."

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

Date: 1715-1720

"The Gods that unrelenting Breast have steel'd, / And curs'd thee with a Mind that cannot yield."

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)