Date: 1765

"Mere Affectation vainly would assert / A steady, lasting empire o'er the heart"

— Stevenson, William (1730-1783)

Date: 1765

"When Reason, on her dictatorial throne, / Argues and pleads, with undecisive tone; / Thy rhetoric of sound, beyond her aid, / Thy lyre-breath'd strains of language can persuade."

— Stevenson, William (1730-1783)

Date: 1765

"Thro' rooted vice my spirits fail, / Which o'er my heart an empire wins, / O let thy mercy countervail / To cover all our sins."

— Smart, Christopher (1722-1771)

Date: 1765

"Be ye not like to horse or mule, / That are not bless'd with reason's rule."

— Smart, Christopher (1722-1771)

Date: 1765, 1770

"Till mighty conscience, whose prevailing call / Opes the dread volume of her laws to all."

— Wodhull, Michael (1740-1816)

Date: 1765, 1770

"When of old / Arcadia's peaceful shepherds uncontroul'd / Their ranging flocks thro' boundless pastures drove, / Or tun'd their pipes beneath the myrtle grove, / Their laws on brazen tablets unimprest / Were deeply grav'd on each ingenuous breast, / No proud Vicegerent of Astrea reign'd, / Astre...

— Wodhull, Michael (1740-1816)

Date: 1739, 1766

Sins may "erect their throne" in one's heart

— Nicol, Alexander (bap. 1703)

Date: 1766, 1806

"Too fatal proof! since thou, with av'rice fraught, / Didst basely urge (ah! shun the wounding thought!) / That tender circumstance--reveal it not, / Lest torn with rage I curse my fated lot: / Lest startled Reason abdicate her reign, / And Madness revel in this heated brain."

— Jerningham, Edward (1727-1812)

Date: 1766

"Far beyond the bonds of meaning / Fancy flies, a Fairy queen!"

— Cunningham, John (1729-1773)

Date: 1766, 1808

"Nature, my friend, profuse in vain, / May every gift impart; / If unimprov'd, they ne'er can gain / An empire o'er the heart."

— Anstey, Christopher (1724-1805)