| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: this, the affairs of Spain at the accession of Charles V. were
not in an unpromising condition. The Spanish Visigoths had been
the least barbarous of the Teutonic settlers within the limits of
the Empire; their civil institutions were excellent; their cities
had obtained municipal liberties at an earlier date than those of
England; and their Parliaments indulged in a liberty of speech
which would have seemed extravagant even to De Montfort. So late
as the time of Ferdinand, the Spaniards were still justly proud
of their freedom; and the chivalrous ambition which inspired the
marvellous expedition of Cortes to Mexico, and covered the soil
of Italy with Spanish armies, was probably in the main a healthy
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare: Throttle their practiz'd accent in their feares,
And in conclusion, dumbly haue broke off,
Not paying me a welcome. Trust me sweete,
Out of this silence yet, I pickt a welcome:
And in the modesty of fearefull duty,
I read as much, as from the ratling tongue
Of saucy and audacious eloquence.
Loue therefore, and tongue-tide simplicity,
In least, speake most, to my capacity
Egeus. So please your Grace, the Prologue is addrest
Duke. Let him approach.
A Midsummer Night's Dream |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Woman and Labour by Olive Schreiner: and profound instinct warns him, that with the increased intelligence and
economic freedom of woman, he, and such as he, might ultimately be left
sexually companionless; the undesirable, the residuary, male old-maids of
the human race.
On the other hand, there is undoubtedly a certain body of females who would
lose, or imagine they would lose, heavily by the advance of woman as a
whole to a condition of free labour and economic independence. That
female, wilfully or organically belonging to the parasite class, having
neither the vigour of intellect nor the vitality of body to undertake any
form of productive labour, and desiring to be dependent only upon the
passive performance of sex function merely, would, whether as prostitute or
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