| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte: been to two parties since. Unfortunately the two noblemen, Lord G-
and Lord F-, were married, or I might have condescended to be
particularly gracious to THEM; as it was, I did not: though Lord
F-, who hates his wife, was evidently much struck with me. He
asked me to dance with him twice - he is a charming dancer, by-the-
by, and so am I: you can't think how well I did - I was astonished
at myself. My lord was very complimentary too - rather too much so
in fact - and I thought proper to be a little haughty and
repellent; but I had the pleasure of seeing his nasty, cross wife
ready to perish with spite and vexation - '
'Oh, Miss Murray! you don't mean to say that such a thing could
 Agnes Grey |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Cratylus by Plato: CRATYLUS: The use of names, Socrates, as I should imagine, is to inform:
the simple truth is, that he who knows names knows also the things which
are expressed by them.
SOCRATES: I suppose you mean to say, Cratylus, that as the name is, so
also is the thing; and that he who knows the one will also know the other,
because they are similars, and all similars fall under the same art or
science; and therefore you would say that he who knows names will also know
things.
CRATYLUS: That is precisely what I mean.
SOCRATES: But let us consider what is the nature of this information about
things which, according to you, is given us by names. Is it the best sort
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe: servants left in the city.
As they fled now out of the city, so I should observe that the Court
removed early, viz., in the month of June, and went to Oxford, where
it pleased God to preserve them; and the distemper did not, as I heard
of, so much as touch them, for which I cannot say that I ever saw they
showed any great token of thankfulness, and hardly anything of
reformation, though they did not want being told that their crying
vices might without breach of charity be said to have gone far in
bringing that terrible judgement upon the whole nation.
The face of London was -now indeed strangely altered: I mean the
whole mass of buildings, city, liberties, suburbs, Westminster,
 A Journal of the Plague Year |