Date: 1767

"Man in this world, Sir, may be compared to a hackney-coach upon a stand; continually subject to be drawn by his unruly appetites, on one foolish jaunt or another; but you will say, if his appetites are horses, which as it were drag him along, reason is the coachman to rule those horses--But, Sir...

— Bickerstaff, Isaac (b. 1733, d. after 1808)

Date: 1767

"Instant my Sense return'd, restor'd and whole, / To re-possess its empire of the soul. / So, when o'er Phoebus low-hung clouds prevail, / Sleep on each hill, and sadden ev'ry dale; / Sudden, up-springing from the north, invades / A purging wind, which first disturbs the shades; / Thins the black...

— Harte, Walter (1708/9-1774)

Date: 1767, 1784

"But if foul Passion, or distemper'd Pride, / Impede its search, or Phrenzy seize the brain, / Then Ignorance a gloomy darkness spreads, / Or Superstition, with mishapen forms, / Erects its savage empire in the mind."

— Jago, Richard (1715-1781)

Date: 1767, 1784

"This principle / In female minds a feebler empire holds, / Opposing less the specious arguments / For milder rule, and freedom's popular theme."

— Jago, Richard (1715-1781)

Date: 1763, 1767

"And lo a flourish'd portico enrich'd, / That wears th'embroidery of the Queen it guards, / Where Fancy on her vernal throne presides / O'er all the colours of the painted year, / That charm th'affections, and deceive the eye."

— Jones, Henry (1721-1770)

Date: 1768

"Let me, Reason, own thy force: / Though thou totter'st on thy throne, / Let me call thee still my own"

— Downman, Hugh (1740-1809)

Date: 1768

A beloved may "o'ercome" a lover's "yielding heart" and fix "her empire there"

— Downman, Hugh (1740-1809)

Date: w. 1766, 1768

"And reason fixed her empire in my breast."

— Pye, Henry James (1745-1813)

Date: 1770

The master-passion may be concealed "but on great occasions,... It will break forth, and loudly tell the world / What fermentation often works the soul"

— Stockdale, Percival (1736-1811)

Date: 1770, 1806

"Nor pride nor fickleness could claim / The empire of his mind."

— Jerningham, Edward (1727-1812)