Date: 1781, 1791

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

— Downman, Hugh (1740-1809)

Date: 1781

"Gold hath steeled your hearts"

— Wesley, John (1703-1791)

Date: December, 1781; 1835

"Smooth, ductile, and even, [the poet's] fancy must flow, / Must tinkle and glitter like gold to the sight / And catch in its progress a sensible glow."

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

Superficial education slights "the precious kernel of the stone" and polishes "its rough coat alone"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

"How Custom steels the human breast / To deeds that Nature's thoughts detest!"

— Scott, John, of Amwell (1730-1783)

Date: 1782

The Muse, like Cato, "Well [...] supplies her want of softer art / By all the sterling treasures of the heart."

— Hayley, William (1745-1820)

Date: 1782

In polishing the mind, Luxury gives it a "childish cast"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

"Neglected talents rust into decay"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: 1782

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

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)

Date: November 10, 1783

"He gives, what bankrupt Nature never can, / Whose noblest coin is light and brittle man, / Gold, purer far than Ophir ever knew, / A soul, an image of himself, and therefore true."

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)