| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Royalty Restored/London Under Charles II by J. Fitzgerald Molloy: medicine and teller of fortunes, of the weakness of human nature
and strength of common credulity, the learned Alexander Bendo
vanished from the city; and about the same time the gallant Earl
of Rochester appeared at court, where he sought for and obtained
the merry monarch's pardon. The wonderful stories he was enabled
to relate, piquant in detail, and sparkling with wit, rendered it
delightful to the king, in whose favour he soon regained his
former supremacy. Nay, Charles even determined to enrich and
reward him, not indeed from the resources of his privy purse, his
majesty's income being all too little for his mistresses'
rapacity, but by uniting him to a charming woman and an heiress.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Symposium by Plato: Again I replied that I did not know. She said to me: 'And do you expect
ever to become a master in the art of love, if you do not know this?' 'But
I have told you already, Diotima, that my ignorance is the reason why I
come to you; for I am conscious that I want a teacher; tell me then the
cause of this and of the other mysteries of love.' 'Marvel not,' she said,
'if you believe that love is of the immortal, as we have several times
acknowledged; for here again, and on the same principle too, the mortal
nature is seeking as far as is possible to be everlasting and immortal:
and this is only to be attained by generation, because generation always
leaves behind a new existence in the place of the old. Nay even in the
life of the same individual there is succession and not absolute unity: a
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Father Goriot by Honore de Balzac: petty offenders, but of people who set about their work on a
large scale--they won't touch a matter unless there are ten
thousand francs in it. It is composed of the most distinguished
of the men who are sent straight to the Assize Courts when they
come up for trial. They know the Code too well to risk their
necks when they are nabbed. Collin is their confidential agent
and legal adviser. By means of the large sums of money at his
disposal he has established a sort of detective system of his
own; it is widespread and mysterious in its workings. We have had
spies all about him for a twelvemonth, and yet we could not
manage to fathom his games. His capital and his cleverness are at
Father Goriot |
