Date: 1753

"But their Hearts were steel'd by Custom."

— Moore, Edward (1712-1757)

Date: 1753

"Tis well you have a Heart of Stone, the Tale wou'd melt it else."

— Moore, Edward (1712-1757)

Date: 1755

"Had not Guilt steel'd thy Heart, awakening Conscience / Wou'd flash Conviction on thee, and each Look, / Shot from these Eyes, be arm'd with Serpent-Horrors, / To turn thee into Stone!"

— Brown, John (1715-1766)

Date: 1755

"His bold Resolves have steel'd ZAPHIRA's Breast / Against thy Love"

— Brown, John (1715-1766)

Date: 1759, performed 1776

"Steel then, ye Powers of heav'n, / Steel my firm soul with your own fortitude, / Free from alloy of passion."

— Mason, William (1725-1797)

Date: 1760

"If thus a golden crown can steel his heart, / O may I ne'er behold him while a king!"

— Kenrick, William (1729/30-1779)

Date: 1761

"You, the miser's haunt be near; / Break his rest with causeless fear, / Creak his doors, his windows shake, / 'Till his iron heart shall quake."

— Hawkesworth, John (bap. 1720, d. 1773)

Date: 1761

"But now Adversity's refining fire / Melts down the base alloy of earthly passions, / And purifies the temper of the heart."

— Cumberland, Richard (1732-1811)

Date: 1761

"Soon as the guilty passion is allay'd, / The green and morbid colour of our souls / Is chang'd to virgin white; a gentle breeze / Of pity springs within us."

— Cumberland, Richard (1732-1811)

Date: 1761

"Why then I thank thee, Nature, / That when you made this frame of such frail stuff, / So sensible of harm, so ill array'd / To combat sharp Misfortune, yet you cas'd / My Heart in temper'd steel, and made it proof / Against the soft compunctious stroke of Pity, / Bidding it laugh at all that Fat...

— Cumberland, Richard (1732-1811)