Date: 1708

"You know, Lavinia, once I lov'd you well; / Nor has your Crimes yet chang'd my Heart to Steel."

— Ward, Edward (1667-1731)

Date: 1710, 1714

"Thus I contend with Fancy and Opinion; and search the Mint and Foundery of Imagination. For here the Appetites and Desires are fabricated. Hence they derive their Privilege and Currency. If I can stop the Mischief here, and prevent false Coinage; I am safe."

— Cooper, Anthony Ashley, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)

Date: 1717

"Some livelier Spark of Heav'n, and more refin'd / From earthly Dross, fills the great Poet's Mind."

— Duke, Richard (1658-1711)

Date: 1720

"How savage must he be to learn such Ill! / And sure his very Soul it self was Steel."

— Dart, John (d. 1730); Tibullus (c. 54-19 B.C.)

Date: 1720

"O'er steely Breasts, oft soothing Prayers prevail"

— Dart, John (d. 1730); Tibullus (c. 54-19 B.C.)

Date: 1731

"Such! as the softest Bosom steels!"

— Ogle, George (1704-1746); Joannes Secundus Nicolaius

Date: 1733-1735

"Her Heart must be harder than Steel / Not to soften with such a soft Muse"

— Bowden, Samuel (fl. 1733-1761)

Date: 1742

"[H]e bewailed her Loss with Groans, which would have pierced any Heart but those which are possessed by some People, and are made of a certain Composition not unlike Flint in its Hardness and other Properties; for you may strike Fire from them which will dart through the Eyes, but they can never...

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

Date: 1742

"He had never contracted a Debt in his Life, and was consequently the less ready at an Expedient to extricate himself. Tow-wouse was willing to give him Credit 'till next time, to which Mrs. Tow-wouse would probably have consented (for such was Joseph's Beauty, that it had ma...

— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)