| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Psychology of Revolution by Gustave le Bon: productive employment! He also informs us ``that it cost only
120 livres to get people arrested,'' and that ``under Louis XV.
more than 150,000 lettres de cachet were distributed.''
The majority of books dealing with the Revolution are conceived
with as little impartiality and critical spirit, which is one
reason why this period is really so little known to us.
Certainly there is no lack of documents, but they are absolutely
contradictory. To the celebrated description of La Bruyere we
may oppose the enthusiastic picture drawn by the English
traveller Young of the prosperous condition of the peasants of
some of the French provinces.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Cavalry General by Xenophon: the delight of god and man. That our knights are not accustomed to
these actual evolutions, I am well aware; but I also recognise the
fact that the performances are good and beautiful and will give
pleasure to spectators. I do not fail to note, moreover, that novel
feats of horsemanship have before now been performed by our knights,
when their commanders have had the ability to get their wishes readily
complied with.
[9] Lit. "everything that may be performed on a mounted horse."
Possibly, as Cobet suggests, {kala} has dropped out. See
"Horsemanship," xi. 3, 6.
But now, let us suppose it is the occasion of the march-past,[10] in
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Youth by Joseph Conrad: bright, a great plashing of propellers, rattling of
winches, and a lot of hailing on the pier-heads. I watched
the procession of head-lights gliding high and of green
lights gliding low in the night, when suddenly a red
gleam flashed at me, vanished, came into view again, and
remained. The fore-end of a steamer loomed up close.
I shouted down the cabin, 'Come up, quick!' and then
heard a startled voice saying afar in the dark, 'Stop her,
sir.' A bell jingled. Another voice cried warningly,
'We are going right into that bark, sir.' The answer to
this was a gruff 'All right,' and the next thing was a
Youth |
