| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin: corn laws established for it, dealing in a better bread;--bread made
of that old enchanted Arabian grain, the Sesame, which opens doors;-
-doors not of robbers', but of Kings' Treasuries.
LECTURE II.--LILIES OF QUEENS' GARDENS
"Be thou glad, oh thirsting Desert; let the desert be made cheerful,
and bloom as the lily; and the barren places of Jordan shall run
wild with wood."--ISAIAH XXXV. I. (Septuagint.)
It will, perhaps, be well, as this Lecture is the sequel of one
previously given, that I should shortly state to you my general
intention in both. The questions specially proposed to you in the
first, namely, How and What to Read, rose out of a far deeper one,
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe: those which we looked on things with before. As the people who had
been used to join with the Church were reconciled at this time with
the admitting the Dissenters to preach to them, so the Dissenters, who
with an uncommon prejudice had broken off from the communion of
the Church of England, were now content to come to their parish
churches and to conform to the worship which they did not approve of
before; but as the terror of the infection abated, those things all
returned again to their less desirable channel and to the course they
were in before.
I mention this but historically. I have no mind to enter into
arguments to move either or both sides to a more charitable
A Journal of the Plague Year |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle: in Lincoln green began whispering together. Then one of the two,
whom Partington thought to be the tallest and stoutest fellow
he had ever beheld, spoke up and said, "What seekest thou of
Robin Hood, Sir Page? And what does our good Queen Eleanor wish of him?
I ask this of thee, not foolishly, but with reason, for I know
somewhat of this stout yeoman."
"An thou knowest aught of him, good fellow," said young Partington,
"thou wilt do great service to him and great pleasure to our royal
Queen by aiding me to find him."
Then up spake the other yeoman, who was a handsome fellow with
sunburned face and nut-brown, curling hair, "Thou hast an honest look,
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood |
