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)

Date: 1761

"But know to thy confusion, not the Winds, / That sweep the Scythian desart, are more deaf, / Than are thy fancied Deities; nor Rocks, / That shake those Winds from off their icy sides, / More hard, or more unfeeling than my heart."

— Cumberland, Richard (1732-1811)

Date: 1772

"Oh! if my fate depends upon her looks, they must be iron hearts that can withstand 'em."

— Cumberland, Richard (1732-1811)

Date: 1774

"Oh, there's been precious doings with the Hearts of Steel"

— Cumberland, Richard (1732-1811)

Date: 1785

"While in high life our hearts the fashions steel, / Too gay to listen, and too fine to feel--"

— Cumberland, Richard (1732-1811)

Date: 1795

"Lady Ruby is the loadstone that draws away every particle of steel that shou'd fortify my heart, and leaves it weaker than a woman's tear."

— Cumberland, Richard (1732-1811)