| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Contrast by Royall Tyler: was published as by Freneau in the American Museum,
where it appears (with slight changes from the version
in the 'Contrast') in vol. I., page 77. But Freneau
never claimed to have written it, and never placed it
among his own collections of his poems, several editions
of which he made long after the 'Contrast' was pub-
lished. Mrs. Hunter's poems were not printed till
1806, and the version of the song there printed is an
exact copy as given in the play. This song also ap-
peared in a play, entitled, 'New Spain, or Love in
Mexico,' published at Dublin in 1740. After consider-
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Republic by Plato: foreigner, teacher and pupil, old and young, are all on a level; fathers
and teachers fear their sons and pupils, and the wisdom of the young man is
a match for the elder, and the old imitate the jaunty manners of the young
because they are afraid of being thought morose. Slaves are on a level
with their masters and mistresses, and there is no difference between men
and women. Nay, the very animals in a democratic State have a freedom
which is unknown in other places. The she-dogs are as good as their she-
mistresses, and horses and asses march along with dignity and run their
noses against anybody who comes in their way. 'That has often been my
experience.' At last the citizens become so sensitive that they cannot
endure the yoke of laws, written or unwritten; they would have no man call
The Republic |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Professor by Charlotte Bronte: pleasure to a certain place of public resort in the outskirts of
Brussels, of which I do not at this moment remember the name, but
near it were several of those lakelets called etangs; and there
was one etang, larger than the rest, where on holidays people
were accustomed to amuse themselves by rowing round it in little
boats. The boys having eaten an unlimited quantity of "gaufres,"
and drank several bottles of Louvain beer, amid the shades of a
garden made and provided for such crams, petitioned the director
for leave to take a row on the etang. Half a dozen of the eldest
succeeded in obtaining leave, and I was commissioned to accompany
them as surveillant. Among the half dozen happened to be a
The Professor |
