| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The New Machiavelli by H. G. Wells: Plato has the added glory of that acquired beauty, that bust of the
Indian Bacchus which is now indissolubly mingled with his tradition.
They have passed into the world of the ideal, and every humbug takes
his freedoms with their names. But Machiavelli, more recent and
less popular, is still all human and earthly, a fallen brother--and
at the same time that nobly dressed and nobly dreaming writer at the
desk.
That vision of the strengthened and perfected state is protagonist
in my story. But as I re-read "The Prince" and thought out the
manner of my now abandoned project, I came to perceive how that stir
and whirl of human thought one calls by way of embodiment the French
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: "Why had that young man a stain of blood upon his ruff?" asked
Miss Joliffe.
"Because, in after years," answered her grandfather, "he laid
down the wisest head in England upon the block for the principles
of liberty."
"Will not your Excellency order out the guard?" whispered Lord
Percy, who, with other British officers, had now assembled round
the General. "There may be a plot under this mummery."
"Tush! we have nothing to fear," carelessly replied Sir William
Howe. "There can be no worse treason in the matter than a jest,
and that somewhat of the dullest. Even were it a sharp and bitter
Twice Told Tales |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates by Howard Pyle: load of jewels (which gems he sold by the handful, history
sayeth, to a Bristol merchant), than, say, one of Bishop
Atterbury's sermons, or the goodly Master Robert Boyle's
religious romance of "Theodora and Didymus"? It is to be
apprehended that to the unregenerate nature of most of us there
can be but one answer to such a query.
In the pleasurable warmth the heart feels in answer to tales of
derring- do Nelson's battles are all mightily interesting, but,
even in spite of their romance of splendid courage, I fancy that
the majority of us would rather turn back over the leaves of
history to read how Drake captured the Spanish treasure ship in
Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates |
