Date: 1741

"But soon his tender Mind th' Impression felt, / As softest Metals are not slow to melt, / And Pity soonest runs in gentle Minds"

— Ogle, George (1704-1746)

Date: 1759

"Their grief, however, like their joy, was transient; every thing floated in their mind unconnected with the past or future, so that one desire easily gave way to another, as a second stone cast into the water effaces and confounds the circles of the first."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Date: 1761

"You, the miser's haunt be near; / Break his rest with causeless fear, / Creak his doors, his windows shake, / 'Till his iron heart shall quake."

— Hawkesworth, John (bap. 1720, d. 1773)

Date: 1766

"Perhaps I may catch up even one from the gulph, and that will be great gain; for is there upon earth a gem so precious as the human soul?"

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

Date: 1766

"We should then find that creatures, whose souls are held as dross, only wanted the hand of a refiner; we should then find that wretches, now stuck up for long tortures, lest luxury should feel a momentary pang, might, if properly treated, serve to sinew the state in times of danger."

— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)

Date: 1774

"Her soul, refin'd from passion's base alloy, / Seem'd wrapt in visions of seraphic joy."

— Roberts, William Hayward (d. 1791)

Date: 1777

"The greedy Creditor, whose flinty breast / The iron hand of Avarice hath press'd, / Who never own'd Humanity's soft claim"

— Robinson [Née Darby], Mary [Perdita] (1758-1800)

Date: 1777

"Where dwells the soul against Compassion steel'd, / Or who disdains the generous tear to yield?"

— Robinson [Née Darby], Mary [Perdita] (1758-1800)

Date: 1777

"Courage, the warrior's bosom steel'd."

— Polwhele, Richard (1760-1838)

Date: 1780

"I call not you!--for, oh, your callous bosoms / Fell Dissipation steels, and robs your minds / Of the sweet energies bestow'd by Heaven."

— Cowley [née Parkhouse], Hannah (1743-1809)