Date: 1789

"Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure."

— Bentham, Jeremy (1748-1832)

Date: 1789

"In words a man may pretend to abjure their empire [pain and pleasure]: but in reality he will remain subject to it all the while"

— Bentham, Jeremy (1748-1832)

Date: 1789, 1797

"Still in this breast shall dearest Emma reign, / Nor e'er my will your virgin choice shall sway."

— Berkeley, George Monck (1763-1793)

Date: May 13, 1789

"[T]he Slave Trade has enslaved their [Africans'] minds, blackened their character and sunk them so low in the scale of animal beings, that some think the very apes are of a higher class, and fancy the Ourang Outang has given them the go-by."

— Wilberforce, William (1759-1833)

Date: 1790

Custom "wars with Wit for Empire o'er the mind / Fights to the last unknowing how to yield, / And inch by inch disputes the mental field"

— Williams, John [pseud. Anthony Pasquin] (1754-1818)

Date: 1790

"The passions heated, reason strives in vain; / Her empire's lost, and the distracted soul / Becomes the sport of devils, wholly bent / To turn and wind it in a world of sin."

— Hurdis, James (1763-1801)

Date: 1790

"'Tis God's decree engrav'd upon the heart / To make us wait with patience, till he comes, / Undraws the curtain, and dispels the gloom, / And takes us to his bosom, and rewards / Our constancy and truth."

— Hurdis, James (1763-1801)

Date: 1790

"Though the ruling passion of mankind is a thirst for gain, yet this often leads to the perversion of honour, virtue, and goodness; whereas, the one we are speaking of confirms them all."

— Trusler, John (1735-1820)

Date: 1790

"Her sickly mind / Was ill at ease, though seated on the throne / of affluence and plenty."

— Hurdis, James (1763-1801)

Date: March 8, 1790

"Love does all day the soul's great empire keep; / But Wine, at night, lulls the soft God asleep."

— Kemble, John Philip (1757-1823)