Date: 1786

Uncouth men may have "minds like rich metals, as yet unpurify'd from alloy; but let it once be known that the ore is gold, and the refiner's hand will soon bring forth the bullion"

— Pilon, Frederick (1750-1788)

Date: 1786

One may steal "The gem of truth from his unguarded soul"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1787-1818

"The countless gold of a merry heart / The rubies & pearls of a loving eye / The indolent never can bring to the mart / Nor the secret hoard up in his treasury"

— Blake, William (1757-1827)

Date: w. 1787-1818

"You say reserve & modesty he has / Whose heart is iron his head wood & his face brass."

— Blake, William (1757-1827)

Date: 1787

"Whate'er pursuits the attentive mind employ / Must mark our manners with a strong alloy"

— Pye, Henry James (1745-1813)

Date: 1787

"Love was ever the touchstone to try the fine mind, / Sterling Virtue 'twill never debase; / No alloy can we know, from a passion refin'd,"

— Yearsley, Ann (bap. 1753, d. 1806)

Date: 1787

"Virtue sleeps / While all the finest faculties of mind / Rust, like the iron long unus'd"

— Yearsley, Ann (bap. 1753, d. 1806)

Date: 1787

"For scenes that frequent shapes of Death impart / Arm the firm breast, and steel the manly heart"

— Pye, Henry James (1745-1813)

Date: 1787

"To curse the hearts that selfish maxims steel, / And execrate the effects of patriot zeal.--"

— Pye, Henry James (1745-1813)

Date: 1787

"But when by various wrongs your bosom's steel'd, / Your groaning country calling to the field, / And 'twixt the foe and you the uncertain scale / Of fight must shew whose fortune shall prevail"

— Pye, Henry James (1745-1813)