| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Alkahest by Honore de Balzac: women in whom the vulgar mind would have found defects,--Cleopatra,
Jeanne de Naples, Diane de Poitiers, Mademoiselle de la Valliere,
Madame de Pompadour; in fact, the majority of the women whom love has
rendered famous were not without infirmities and imperfections, while
the greater number of those whose beauty is cited as perfect came to
some tragic end of love.
This apparent singularity must have a cause. It may be that man lives
more by sentiment than by sense; perhaps the physical charm of beauty
is limited, while the moral charm of a woman without beauty is
infinite. Is not this the moral of the fable on which the Arabian
Nights are based? An ugly wife of Henry VIII. might have defied the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Little Britain by Washington Irving: degeneracy. I have rejoiced also in the general spirit of
harmony that prevailed throughout it; for though there might
now and then be a few clashes of opinion between the
adherents of the cheesemonger and the apothecary, and an
occasional feud between the burial societies, yet these were but
transient clouds, and soon passed away. The neighbors met
with good-will, parted with a shake of the hand, and never
abused each other except behind their backs.
I could give rare descriptions of snug junketing parties at
which I have been present; where we played at All-fours, Pope-
Joan, Tome-come-tickle-me, and other choice old games; and
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: he has her tight by that, for she might be nabbed as accessory after
the fact, and end her days in Saint-Lazare."
"The villain! The reelers teach a thief what's what," said Jacques.
"Godet left his pieces at his sister's, a washerwoman; honest girl,
she may be caught for five years in La Force without dreaming of it.
The pal raised the tiles of the floor, put them back again, and
guyed."
"Now do you know what I want you to do?" said Jacques Collin, with a
magnetizing gaze at la Pouraille.
"What?"
"I want you to take Madeleine's job on your shoulders."
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