Date: 1748

"Let godlike reason, from her sovereign throne, / Speak the commanding word 'I will!' and it is done."

— Thomson, James (1700-1748)

Date: 1757, 1769

"The king of men to sudden rage resign'd, / At once, the empire of his mighty mind."

— Wilkie, William (1721-1772)

Date: May 7, 1772

"Conscience, that candid judge of right and wrong, / Will o'er the secrets of each heart preside, / Nor aw'd by pomp, nor tam'd by soothing song."

— Fergusson, Robert (1750-1774)

Date: 1776

The ruling passion of an author may be "strongly marked in his writings"

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

Date: 1782

Those who wear "The Zone of Venus" "never know / To what enchanting charm they owe / The empire of the heart"

— Logan, John (1748-1788)

Date: 1793

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

— Blacklock, Thomas (1721-1791)

Date: 1794

The mists of faction may pour around one's head

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