Date: 1771

"The selfish brutality of his behaviour on the stairs had steeled their hearts against all his arts and address"

— Smollett, Tobias (1721-1777)

Date: November 1772

"Must Chloe hope in vain to steel that heart / In which each nymph would gladly share a part?"

— Crabbe, George (1754-1832)

Date: 1772

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

— Cumberland, Richard (1732-1811)

Date: 1772

"But pr'ythee, with that heart of steel, / Revile the dead, and maul them soundly."

— Stevenson, John Hall (1717-1785)

Date: November 25, 1773

"You've seen me round the bickers reel / Wi' heart as hale as temper'd steel,"

— Fergusson, Robert (1750-1774)

Date: 1773

"'Prepare (he said) the tragic scene to close, / 'And shun the fate that iron-hearts impose"

— Jerningham, Edward (1727-1812)

Date: 1773

"Her form was beauty's self, thro' which refin'd / Shone, like a jewel chrystal-clos'd, her mind"

— Robertson, James (fl.1768-1788)

Date: 1774

"Her soul, refin'd from passion's base alloy, / Seem'd wrapt in visions of seraphic joy."

— Roberts, William Hayward (d. 1791)

Date: 1774

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

— Cumberland, Richard (1732-1811)

Date: 1774

"The attraction of the magnet is only exerted upon similar particles; and to taste the beauties of Homer it is requisite to partake his fire: but every one can relish the author who represents common life, because every one can refer to the originals from whence his ideas were taken"

— Barbauld, Anna Letitia [née Aikin] (1743-1825)