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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Ancient Regime by Charles Kingsley: frequently despised, but willingly endured because it may be
serviceable, or because it may hurt. To that degrading form of
servitude they were ever strangers. The king inspired them with
feelings . . . which have become incomprehensible to this generation
. . . They loved him with the affection due to a father; they
revered him with the respect due to God. In submitting to the most
arbitrary of his commands, they yielded less to compulsion than to
loyalty; and thus they frequently preserved great freedom of mind,
even in the most complete dependence. This liberty, irregular,
intermittent," says M. de Tocqueville, "helped to form those
vigorous characters, those proud and daring spirits, which were to
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