It would look like Modern would be the participle.
Because Modern modifies what the Essay is, Essay is the word modified.
I'm pretty sure this is right, since no other word in the sentence seems to modify anything.
The first word in quotations does NOT always need to be capitalized. If you are quoting what someone said, it should be capitalized, and so should the title of a book, movie, song, etc., and if the first word in quotations is the first word of a sentence. If you are just quoting a small part of a phrase/song/something that has already been written by someone else, it does not have to be capitalized.
