Date: 1776

"Forgive, O king, if as a man I feel, / I bear no bosom of obdurate steel"

— Mickle, William Julius [formerly William Meikle] (1734-1788)

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: 1778

"As to my Fanny and myself, our souls had been created, like sympathetic steel and magnet, to leap together at first sight!"

— Brooke, Henry (c. 1703-1783)

Date: 1772-1781, 1781

"But, if thy faint springs / Refuse this large supply, steel thy firm soul / With stoic pride"

— Mason, William (1725-1797)

Date: 1781

"'Gainst fear and pity now thy bosom steel, / For sights more horrible I now reveal!"

— Hayley, William (1745-1820)

Date: 1781, 1791

An "scholar, but unwise" "cannot separate the dross / From the pure ore"

— Downman, Hugh (1740-1809)

Date: 1782

"Let heathen worthies, whose exalted mind / Left sensuality and dross behind, / Possess for me their undisputed lot"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1785

"Thus rust the Mind's best powers."

— Yearsley, Ann (bap. 1753, d. 1806)