| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from On Revenues by Xenophon: immoderate amount he finds as much pleasure in digging a hole in the
ground and hoarding it as in the actual employment of it. And from a
wider point of view: when a state is prosperous there is nothing which
people so much desire as silver. The men want money to expend on
beautiful armour and fine horses, and houses, and sumptuous
paraphenalia[6] of all sorts. The women betake themselves to expensive
apparel and ornaments of gold. Or when states are sick,[7] either
through barrenness of corn and other fruits, or through war, the
demand for current coin is even more imperative (whilst the ground
lies unproductive), to pay for necessaries or military aid.
[1] Or, "on a sound basis."
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini: one vital point, she found in this no matter for astonishment. The
singular regard conceived by Mme. de Plougastel for Andre-Louis
seemed to her then a sufficient explanation.
Without pausing to consider, she ran down that steep staircase,
calling:
"Madame! Madame!"
The portly, comely housekeeper drew aside, and the two ladies faced
each other on that threshold. Mme. de Plougastel looked white and
haggard, a nameless dread staring from her eyes.
"Aline! You here!" she exclaimed. And then in the urgency sweeping
aside all minor considerations, "Were you also too late?" she asked.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe: courtship; and I mention it the rather to intimate again to the
ladies that nothing but want of courage for such an indifferency
makes our sex so cheap, and prepares them to be ill-used as
they are; would they venture the loss of a pretending fop now
and then, who carries it high upon the point of his own merit,
they would certainly be less slighted, and courted more. Had
I discovered really and truly what my great fortune was, and
that in all I had not full #500 when he expected #1500, yet I
had hooked him so fast, and played him so long, that I was
satisfied he would have had me in my worst circumstances;
and indeed it was less a surprise to him when he learned the
Moll Flanders |
