Date: 1789, 1800

"On his one ruling passion Sir Pope hugely labors, / That, like th'old Hebrew walking-switch, eats up its neighbours."

— Burns, Robert (1759-1796)

Date: 1789, 1800

"Human Nature's his show-box--your friend, would you know him? / Pull the string, Ruling Passion--the picture will show him."

— Burns, Robert (1759-1796)

Date: 1789, 1800

"Some sort all our qualities each to its tribe, / And think Human Nature they truly describe"

— Burns, Robert (1759-1796)

Date: 1790

"The dreadful tales of robbers' bloody deeds, / That oft had swell'd his theme while nightly stretch'd / Now crowded on his mind in all their rage / Of pistols, purses, stand! deliver! death!"

— Wilson, Alexander (1766-1813)

Date: 1793

"There, train'd amid slaughter and ruin to wade, / They toil in the heart-steeling, barbarous trade."

— Wilson, Alexander (1766-1813)

Date: 1793

" When painful truths invade the mind, / Ev'n wisdom wishes to be blind, / And hates th' officious ray."

— Blacklock, Thomas (1721-1791)

Date: 1793

"Flit, Galloway, and find / Some narrow, dirty, dungeon cave, / The picture of thy mind"

— Burns, Robert (1759-1796)

Date: 1793

"Alas the sex you little know, / Their ruling passion is a Beau."

— Blacklock, Thomas (1721-1791)

Date: 1794

"This Magnet, spite of nature's laws, / Still as more distant stronger draws, / And what's more strange, (too well I feel!) / Attracts all hearts but hearts of steel"

— Graham, James (1765-1811)

Date: 1794

"'What numerous ills in life befall! / 'Yet Wisdom learns to scorn them all, / 'And arms the breast with steel"

— Mickle, William Julius [formerly William Meikle] (1734-1788)