| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Legend of Montrose by Walter Scott: which he professed was of a morose and fanatical character; his
ambition appeared to be insatiable, and inferior chiefs
complained of his want of bounty and liberality. Add to this,
that although a Highlander, and of a family distinguished for
valour before and since, Gillespie Grumach [GRUMACH--ill-
favored.] (which, from an obliquity in his eyes, was the personal
distinction he bore in the Highlands, where titles of rank are
unknown) was suspected of being a better man in the cabinet than
in the field. He and his tribe were particularly obnoxious to
the M'Donalds and the M'Leans, two numerous septs, who, though
disunited by ancient feuds, agreed in an intense dislike to the
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Legend of Montrose by Walter Scott: him in single combat. Montrose dearly loved his noble kinsman,
in whom there was conspicuous a flash of the generous, romantic,
disinterested chivalry of the old heroic times, entirely
different from the sordid, calculating, and selfish character,
which the practice of entertaining mercenary troops had
introduced into most parts of Europe, and of which degeneracy
Scotland, which furnished soldiers of fortune for the service of
almost every nation, had been contaminated with a more than usual
share. Montrose, whose native spirit was congenial, although
experience had taught him how to avail himself of the motives of
others, used to Menteith neither the language of praise nor of
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Catherine de Medici by Honore de Balzac: upon the persons who surrounded her, and on the events of her time,
are refuted. If this book is placed among the Philosophical Studies,
it is because it shows the Spirit of a Time, and because we may
clearly see in it the influence of thought.
But before entering the political arena, where Catherine will be seen
facing the two great difficulties of her career, it is necessary to
give a succinct account of her preceding life, from the point of view
of impartial criticism, in order to take in as much as possible of
this vast and regal existence up to the moment when the first part of
the present Study begins.
Never was there any period, in any land, in any sovereign family, a
|
