| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe: had been for him; when I told them, there were threescore
and three guineas. 'Ay,' says I, 'if it had not been for that
unlucky throw, I had got you a hundred guineas.' So I gave
him all the money, but he would not take it till I had put my
hand into it, and taken some for myself, and bid me please
myself. I refused it, and was positive I would not take it
myself; if he had a mind to anything of that kind, it should
be all his own doings.
The rest of the gentlemen seeing us striving cried, 'Give it
her all'; but I absolutely refused that. Then one of them said,
'D----n ye, jack, halve it with her; don't you know you should
Moll Flanders |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Book of Remarkable Criminals by H. B. Irving: God might wish me to be. I am deeply grieved for all I have
done, and would atone for it to the utmost of my power." To Mr.
Littlewood the moment seemed convenient to suggest that as a
practical means of atonement Peace should reveal to him the names
of the persons with whom he had disposed of the greater part of
his stolen property. But in spite of much attempted persuasion
by the reverend gentleman Peace explained that he was a man and
meant to be a man to the end.
[11] William Habron was subsequently given a free pardon and
L800 by way of compensation.
Earlier in their interview Peace had expressed to Mr. Littlewood
A Book of Remarkable Criminals |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Louis Lambert by Honore de Balzac: always had impositions to write. The imposition, a punishment which
varies according to the practice of different schools, consisted at
Vendome of a certain number of lines to be written out in play hours.
Lambert and I were so overpowered with impositions, that we had not
six free days during the two years of our school friendship. But for
the books we took out of the library, which maintained some vitality
in our brains, this system of discipline would have reduced us to
idiotcy. Want of exercise is fatal to children. The habit of
preserving a dignified appearance, begun in tender infancy, has, it is
said, a visible effect on the constitution of royal personages when
the faults of such an education are not counteracted by the life of
Louis Lambert |
