Date: 1742

"Thus on soft sophas in her cave reclin'd, / Slept the fam'd goddess of the leaden mind."

— Dodd, William (1729-1777)

Date: 1743

"Enthusiasts of all ages were ever, in their natural state, most heavy and lumpish; but on the least application of heat, they run like lead, which of all metals falls quickest into fusion. "

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

Date: 1743

"With the same Cement [Authority], ever sure to bind, / We bring to one dead level ev'ry mind"

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

Date: 1743

"Whereas fire in a Genius is truly Promethean, it hurts not its constituent parts, but only fits it (as it does well-tempered steel) for the necessary impressions of art."

— Pope, Alexander (1688-1744)

Date: 1745

"Thou'lt weep, I know thy gentle Soul, my Fair, / No senseless Steel, no rugged Flint dwells there."

— Whaley, John (bap. 1710, d. 1745)

Date: 1748, 1754

"The sensible Beauty, or Good, is refined from its Dross by partaking of the Moral, and the Moral receives a Stamp, a visible Character and Currency from the Sensible."

— Fordyce, David (bap. 1711, d. 1751)

Date: 1753

"But will you fly the heroe you approve? / And steel your heart against a prince you love?"

— Pitt, Christopher (1699-1748)

Date: 1753

"But when the circling seasons as they roll, / Have cleans'd the dross long-gather'd round the soul; / When the celestial fire divinely bright, / Breaks forth victorious in her native light;""

— Pitt, Christopher (1699-1748)

Date: 1757, 1769

"As thus to touch his iron heart they try'd, / The Cyclops smiling, scornful thus reply'd:"

— Wilkie, William (1721-1772)

Date: 1760

"Whene'er he visits us with Racks of Pain, / And speeds the rapid Fever in each Vein, / Our drossy Souls the potent Fire refines,/ Till the bright Ore in polish'd Beauty shines"

— Langhorne,William (1721-1772)