| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Maria, or the Wrongs of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft: "They had excited sensations similar to those I have felt, in
viewing the squalid inhabitants of some of the lanes and back
streets of the metropolis, mortified at being compelled to consider
them as my fellow-creatures, as if an ape had claimed kindred with
me. Or, as when surrounded by a mephitical fog, I have wished to
have a volley of cannon fired, to clear the incumbered atmosphere,
and give me room to breathe and move.
"My spirits were all in arms, and I played a kind of
extemporary prelude. The cadence was probably wild and impassioned,
while, lost in thought, I made the sounds a kind of echo to
my train of thinking.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death by Patrick Henry: Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775.
No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities,
of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House. But different
men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it
will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do
opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my
sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony.
The questing before the House is one of awful moment to this country.
For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of
freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject
ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Royalty Restored/London Under Charles II by J. Fitzgerald Molloy: life as were in its power. According to the declaration made by
the king at Breda, a full and general pardon was extended to all
rebellious subjects, excepting such persons as should be
hereafter excepted by Parliament. By reason of this clause, some
who had been most violent in their persecution of royalty were
committed to the Tower before the arrival of his majesty, others
fled from the country, but had, on another proclamation summoning
them to surrender themselves, returned in hope of obtaining
pardon. Thirty in all were tried at the Old Bailey before the
Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer and a special jury of knights
and gentlemen of quality in the county of Middlesex. Twenty-nine
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