Date: w. April 18, 1776; 1777

"Even my love of literary fame, my ruling passion, never soured my temper, notwithstanding my frequent disappointments."

— Hume, David (1711-1776)

Date: 1767, 1778

"To human frames these structures seem akin, / With aspect fair, while reason rules within."

— Jones, Henry (1721-1770)

Date: 1767, 1778

"Envy in courts and cottages will dwell, / Nay climb to heaven itself, tho' born in hell: / In every living bosom lurks this pest, / But reigns unrival'd in the human breast; / On reason's throne usurps a thorny part, / And plants a thousand daggers in the heart."

— Jones, Henry (1721-1770)

Date: 1767, 1778

"Victorious in thy march, triumphant move, / Arm'd by each grace, each virtue, and each love; / These inmates firm, these bright, these strong allies, / Reign in thy soul, and conquer in thy eyes."

— Jones, Henry (1721-1770)

Date: 1778

"Unless the ruling propensity of the mind be habitually resisted, and generally with effect, our charity, and all those good dispositions which we possess by nature, will have no weight in recommending us to God."

— Caulfield (fl. 1778)

Date: 1778, 1804

"There is some kind and courtly sprite / That o'er the realm of Fancy reigns."

— Langhorne, John (1735-1779)

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: 1778, 1788

"Thy tragic pencil, Aristides, caught / Each varied feeling, and each tender thought; / While moral virtue sanctified thy art, / And passion gave it empire o'er the heart."

— Hayley, William (1745-1820)