Date: 1597

"As if this flesh, which walls about our life, / Were brass impregnable."

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Date: 1603

"Bow, stubborn knees; and heart with strings of steel, / Be soft as sinews of the new-born babe"

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Date: 1603

"And let me wring your heart; for so I shall / If it be made of penetrable stuff, / If damnèd custom have not brassed it so / That it is proof and bulwark against sense."

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Date: 1603

"And my imaginations are as foul / As Vulcan's stithy."

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Date: 1673

"[Y]our whole frame [is] as innocent, and holy, as if your being were all soul and spirit, without the gross allay of flesh and bloud"

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1700

"Oh! all ye Powers that virtuous Love inspire, / Assist me now: inform my Vocal Organs / With Angel Eloquence, such as can melt / His Heart of Flint, and move his former Kindness."

— Centlivre [née Freeman; other married name Carroll], Susanna (bap. 1669?, d. 1723)

Date: 1700

"What Heart of Steel / Could ere resist such Beauty drest in Tears?"

— Centlivre [née Freeman; other married name Carroll], Susanna (bap. 1669?, d. 1723)

Date: 1702

"Love, Sorrow, and the Sting of vile Reproach, / Succeeding one another in their Course, / Like Drops of Eating Water on the Marble, / At length have worn my boasted Courage down."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

Date: November 25, 1707; 1708

"Wilt thou not plead for Life?--Intreat the Tyrant, / And waken Nature in his Iron Heart."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

Date: November 25, 1707; 1708

"No, I will steel my Heart against thy Pray'r."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)