Date: 1771

"I conjure you--however severe the conflict, gratitude shall ever be the predominant passion of my soul--oh! fly this instant."

— Stevens, George Alexander (1710?-1784)

Date: 1773

Injur'd Reason may "her lost rights again / Resume, and of the passions take the rein"

— Hitchcock, Robert (d. 1809)

Date: 1774

"The nymph, who in my bosom reigns, / With such full force my heart enchains, / That nothing ever can impair / The empire she possesses there."

— Dibdin, Charles (bap. 1745, d. 1814)

Date: 1776

"Oh! jealousy, / Thou tyrant of the mind."

— Dibdin, Charles (bap. 1745, d. 1814)

Date: 1778

"Apropos--the charming little thing she reigns a very tyrant in my heart, and I long to see her Lady Rampart."

— Robertson, James (fl.1768-1788)

Date: 1778

"O love, thou dear sweet tyrant of the soul, / Where you possess you must engross the whole."

— Robertson, James (fl.1768-1788)

Date: 1778

"Do you think the public opinion, his various doubts of himself, and of her, the pride of his family, and the loud claims of avarice, his ruling passion 'till now, won't prove near an equipoise to his love?"

— Foote, Samuel (1720-1777)

Date: 1780

"Once love gets into a man's head, poor reason is brought before a court-martial of the passions, and cashiered without a hearing"

— Pilon, Frederick (1750-1788)

Date: 1785

Play [gambling] may be a ruling passion

— MacNally, Leonard (1752-1820)

Date: 1785

"I was surpriz'd, taken unawares, passion ran away with me like an unbroke horse: but I have got him under now; I can govern him with a twine of thread."

— Cumberland, Richard (1732-1811)