| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Psychology of Revolution by Gustave le Bon: they quoted in the speeches of the time. Hypnotised by their
classical memories of Greece and Rome, the new legislators re-
read their Plato and their Plutarch. They wished to revive the
constitution of Sparta, with its manners, its frugal habits, and
its laws.
Lycurgus, Solon, Miltiades, Manlius Torquatus, Brutus, Mucius
Scaevola, even the fabulous Minos himself, became as familiar
in the tribune as in the theatre, and the public went crazy over
them. The shades of the heroes of antiquity hovered over
the revolutionary assemblies. Posterity alone has replaced them
by the shades of the philosophers of the eighteenth century.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker: Mercian Archaeological Society. He knows more of our own part of
the country, with its history and its people, than anyone else. I
expect he will have arrived before us, and we three can have a long
chat after dinner. He is also our local geologist and natural
historian. So you and he will have many interests in common.
Amongst other things he has a special knowledge of the Peak and its
caverns, and knows all the old legends of prehistoric times."
They spent the night at Cheltenham, and on the following morning
resumed their journey to Stafford. Adam's eyes were in constant
employment, and it was not till Salton declared that they had now
entered on the last stage of their journey, that he referred to Sir
Lair of the White Worm |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Legend of Montrose by Walter Scott: services of Europe, it is the custom of the dying soldier not to
vaunt him of such doings, or to recommend them to his fellows;
but, on the contrary, to express contrition for the same, and to
repeat, or have repeated to him, some comfortable prayer; which,
if you please, I will intercede with his Excellency's chaplain to
prefer on your account. It is otherwise no point of my duty to
put you in mind of those things; only it may be for the ease of
your conscience to depart more like a Christian, and less like a
Turk, than you seem to be in a fair way of doing."
The only answer of the dying man--(for as such Ranald MacEagh
might now be considered)--was a request to be raised to such a
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