Date: 1785

Play [gambling] may be a ruling passion

— MacNally, Leonard (1752-1820)

Date: 1785

"When Siddons, honour'd, lov'd, rever'd, departs, / Ah! who may claim her empire in your hearts?"

— Pratt, Samuel Jackson [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749-1814)

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)

Date: 1785, 1838

Love of news may be a master-passion

— Crabbe, George (1754-1832)

Date: 1785

"Theron meanwhile believ'd it Love, fond Love enthron'd / Upon the mutual heart."

— Pratt, Samuel Jackson [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749-1814)

Date: 1785

Jealousy's monsters may hurl "frighted Reason from her throne, / And with her all the charities that wait / To grace her virtuous Court"

— Pratt, Samuel Jackson [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749-1814)

Date: 1785

"Sov'reigns are subjects to the master part; / The ruling passion still maintains its post, / Monarch o'er monarchs, and the mortal's lost."

— Pratt, Samuel Jackson [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749-1814)

Date: 1785

When Passion dwells in the heart it is "Pleasure's court"

— Lovibond, Edward (bap. 1723, d. 1775)

Date: 1786

Love of admiration may be a ruling passion

— Pilon, Frederick (1750-1788)

Date: 1786

The soul controls "the state, the splendour and the throne, / An intellectual kingdom, all her own"

— Cowper, William (1731-1800)