| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Prince Otto by Robert Louis Stevenson: rocky and stony, and lay on the steep scarps of the ravine; here it
was choked with brambles; and there, in fairy haughs, it lay for a
few paces evenly on the green turf. Like a sponge, the hillside
oozed with well-water. The burn kept growing both in force and
volume; at every leap it fell with heavier plunges and span more
widely in the pool. Great had been the labours of that stream, and
great and agreeable the changes it had wrought. It had cut through
dykes of stubborn rock, and now, like a blowing dolphin, spouted
through the orifice; along all its humble coasts, it had undermined
and rafted-down the goodlier timber of the forest; and on these
rough clearings it now set and tended primrose gardens, and planted
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Apology by Xenophon: a loss to imagine on what ground[20] Meletus asserts that I do not
recognise the gods which are recognised by the state, since, as far as
sacrificing goes, the rest of the world who have chanced to be present
have been in the habit of seeing me so engaged at common festivals,
and on the public altars; and so might Meletus himself, if he had
wished. And as to novel divinities, how, pray, am I supposed to
introduce them by stating that I have a voice[21] from God which
clearly signifies to me what I ought do do? Why, what else do those
who make use of the cries of birds or utterences of men draw their
conclusions from if not from voices? Who will deny that the thunder
has a voice and is a very mighty omen;[22] and the priestess on her
The Apology |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Maria, or the Wrongs of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft: he had brought his friend, an attorney, with him.*
* In the original edition the paragraph following is
preceded by three lines of asterisks [Publisher's note].
The tumult on the landing place, brought out a gentleman, who
had recently taken apartments in the house; he enquired why I was
thus assailed?* The voluble attorney instantly repeated the trite
tale. The stranger turned to me, observing, with the most soothing
politeness and manly interest, that 'my countenance told a very
different story.' He added, 'that I should not be insulted, or
forced out of the house, by any body.'
* The introduction of Darnford as the deliverer of Maria,
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