| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: sometimes adagio,--as applied to theological compositions, and with which
he has characterised some of these sermons, I dare not venture to guess.--I
am more puzzled still upon finding a l'octava alta! upon one;--Con strepito
upon the back of another;--Scicilliana upon a third;--Alla capella upon a
fourth;--Con l'arco upon this;--Senza l'arco upon that.--All I know is,
that they are musical terms, and have a meaning;--and as he was a musical
man, I will make no doubt, but that by some quaint application of such
metaphors to the compositions in hand, they impressed very distinct ideas
of their several characters upon his fancy,--whatever they may do upon that
of others.
Amongst these, there is that particular sermon which has unaccountably led
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Iliad by Homer: youths move in a dark mass to battle under the Ajaxes, horrid
with shield and spear. Glad was King Agamemnon when he saw them.
"No need," he cried, "to give orders to such leaders of the
Argives as you are, for of your own selves you spur your men on
to fight with might and main. Would, by father Jove, Minerva, and
Apollo that all were so minded as you are, for the city of Priam
would then soon fall beneath our hands, and we should sack it."
With this he left them and went onward to Nestor, the facile
speaker of the Pylians, who was marshalling his men and urging
them on, in company with Pelagon, Alastor, Chromius, Haemon, and
Bias shepherd of his people. He placed his knights with their
The Iliad |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Taras Bulba and Other Tales by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: me; I will remain here alone."
All the Zaporozhtzi who were there wavered.
"And have you forgotten, brave comrades," said the Koschevoi, "that
the Tatars also have comrades of ours in their hands; that if we do
not rescue them now their lives will be sacrificed in eternal
imprisonment among the infidels, which is worse than the most cruel
death? Have you forgotten that they now hold all our treasure, won by
Christian blood?"
The Cossacks reflected, not knowing what to say. None of them wished
to deserve ill repute. Then there stepped out in front of them the
oldest in years of all the Zaporozhian army, Kasyan Bovdug. He was
Taras Bulba and Other Tales |
