| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from On Horsemanship by Xenophon: mounting is that at the very instant of gaining his seat the
soldier finds himself fully prepared to engage the enemy on a
sudden, if occasion need."
But now, supposing the rider fairly seated, whether bareback or on a
saddle-cloth, a good seat is not that of a man seated on a chair, but
rather the pose of a man standing upright with his legs apart. In this
way he will be able to hold on to the horse more firmly by his thighs;
and this erect attitude will enable him to hurl a javelin or to strike
a blow from horseback, if occasion calls, with more vigorous effect.
The leg and foot should hang loosely from the knee; by keeping the leg
stiff, the rider is apt to have it broken in collision with some
On Horsemanship |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Chinese Boy and Girl by Isaac Taylor Headland: knocking it over. Then he carried it successively on his
head, on each shoulder, on back and breast (walking), in
the bend of his thigh and the bend of his knee (hopping),
and between his legs (shuffling), each time dropping it on
the other brick and knocking it over.
Finally he marked a square enclosing the brick, eighteen
inches each side, and hopped back and forth over both
square and brick ten times which constituted him winner of
the game.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift: are obvious and many, as well as of the highest importance.
For first, as I have already observed, it would greatly lessen
the number of Papists, with whom we are yearly over-run, being
the principal breeders of the nation, as well as our most
dangerous enemies, and who stay at home on purpose with a design
to deliver the kingdom to the Pretender, hoping to take their
advantage by the absence of so many good Protestants, who have
chosen rather to leave their country, than stay at home and pay
tithes against their conscience to an episcopal curate.
Secondly, The poorer tenants will have something valuable of
their own, which by law may be made liable to a distress, and
A Modest Proposal |
