Date: 1775

"Need we the influence of the northern star / To string our nerves and steel our hearts to war? "

— Gray, Thomas (1716-1771)

Date: 1789

"There northern Kametzchatka's dreary strand, / And frozen Isles, your daring toils demand: / Again your British hearts of steel"

— Colvill, Robert (d. 1788)

Date: 1791

"Hail to each ancient sacred shade / Of those, who gave the Muses aid, / Skill'd verse mysterious to unfold, / And set each brilliant thought in gold."

— Smart, Christopher (1722-1771)

Date: 1795

"Disdaining even the thought of flight or fear, / His life, his soul, by steady valor steel'd."

— Pye, Henry James (1745-1813)

Date: 1796

"Low in a humble Preface authors kneel; / In vain, the wearied reader's heart is steel."

— Disraeli, Isaac (1766-1848)

Date: 1808

"Secure, his adamantine heart / In learning's musty cell / Repell'd poor Cupid's powerful dart, / And slighted every belle"

— Grant [née MacVicar], Anne (1755-1838)

Date: 1808

"In panoply of lead and brass / Their cautious hearts unfold, / Which beauty cannot pierce, alas! / Unless with darts of gold!"

— Grant [née MacVicar], Anne (1755-1838)

Date: 1808

"The soft harp's many-sounding strings, / Wak'd by the blushing maid, / Could melt the iron hearts of kings, / And beauty's influence aid"

— Grant [née MacVicar], Anne (1755-1838)

Date: 1810

"And let thy rage, with fancied wrongs insane, / Steel every thought with Delia's proud disdain"

— Seward, Anna (1742-1809)