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: 1776

"One breast alone against his rage was steel'd, / Secure in spotless Truth's celestial shield"

— Mickle, William Julius [formerly William Meikle] (1734-1788)

Date: 1776

"Forgive, O king, if as a man I feel, / I bear no bosom of obdurate steel"

— Mickle, William Julius [formerly William Meikle] (1734-1788)

Date: 1777

"Pale-eyed Affright, his heart of silver hue, / In vain essayed her bosom to acale."

— Chatterton, Thomas (1752-1770)

Date: 1777

"Courage, the warrior's bosom steel'd."

— Polwhele, Richard (1760-1838)

Date: August 4, 1778

"Behold! the soul shall waft away, / Whene'er we come to die, / And leave its cottage made of clay, / In twinkling of an eye."

— Hammon, Jupiter (1711-c.1800)

Date: January 1, 1779

"There [to Heaven's Regions] when the soul, in search of purer day, / Loos'd from mortality's impris'ning clay / Shall swifter than the forked lightning dart."

— Anstey, Christopher (1724-1805)

Date: June 5, 1780

"Some, though they wish it, are not steel'd enough, / Nor is each would-be villain conscience-proof."

— Crabbe, George (1754-1832)

Date: 1780

Locke expelled innate ideas by asserting that "disquisition and proof were the test of truth; and that whatever would not stand their touch, must be considered as base metal."

— Burges, Sir James Bland (1752-1824)

Date: 1772-1781, 1781

"But, if thy faint springs / Refuse this large supply, steel thy firm soul / With stoic pride"

— Mason, William (1725-1797)