Date: w. 1702-1713, 1989

"[I]f reason from the throne be gon / The madd affections bear their master on"

— Parnell, Thomas (1679-1718)

Date: 1702-1713, 1989

"The tyrant passions tread fair meritt down / & their proud thrones erect above the crown"

— Parnell, Thomas (1679-1718)

Date: w. before 1717? (first published 1989)

"But he who servily can wish or grieve / For that which is not in his powr to give / Casts off the firmness wch shoud make him great / the strongest shield we can oppose to fate / letts inclinations grow & thus he weaves / Those very bonds which keep us passions slaves."

— Parnell, Thomas (1679-1718)

Date: 1746, 1749

"But, since we never from the Breast of Fools / Can root their Passions, yet while Reason rules, / Let her hold forth her Scales with equal Hand, / Justly to punish, as the Crimes demand."

— Francis, Philip (1708-1773)

Date: 1760-7

"When a man gives himself up to the government of a ruling passion,--or, in other words, when his Hobby-Horse grows head-strong,--farewell cool reason and fair discretion!"

— Sterne, Laurence (1713-1768)

Date: 1760-7

"Thus conscience, this once able monitor,--placed on high as a judge within us, and intended by our Maker as a just and equitable one too,--by an unhappy train of causes and impediments, takes often such imperfect cognizance of what passes,--does its office so negligently,--sometimes so corruptly...

— Sterne, Laurence (1713-1768)

Date: 1760-7

Whenever one's "inward testimony goes against a man, and he stands self-accused,--that he must necessarily be a guilty man."

— Sterne, Laurence (1713-1768)

Date: 1760-7

The "little interests below" may "rise up and perplex the faculties of our upper regions, and encompass them about with clouds and thick darkness."

— Sterne, Laurence (1713-1768)

Date: 1760-7

"Could no such thing as favour and affection enter this sacred Court [of Conscience]:--Did Wit disdain to take a bribe in it;--or was asham'd to shew its face as an advocate for an unwarrantable enjoyment?"

— Sterne, Laurence (1713-1768)

Date: 1760-7

"Or, lastly, were we assured, that Interest stood always unconcern'd whilst the cause was hearing,--and that passion never got into the judgment-seat, and pronounc'd sentence in the stead of reason, which is supposed always to preside and determine upon the case."

— Sterne, Laurence (1713-1768)