| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Book of Remarkable Criminals by H. B. Irving: perfect criminal couple, both young men of good education,
trained to better things, but the one idle, greedy and vicious,
the other cynical, indifferent, inclined at best to a lazy
sentimentalism. Barre is a needy stockbroker at the end of
his tether, desperate to find an expedient for raising the wind,
Lebiez a medical student who writes morbid verses to a skull and
lectures on Darwinism. To Barre belongs the original
suggestion to murder an old woman who sells milk and is reputed
to have savings. But his friend and former schoolfellow, Lebiez,
accepts the suggestion placidly, and reconciles himself to the
murder of an unnecessary old woman by the same argument as that
A Book of Remarkable Criminals |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Catherine de Medici by Honore de Balzac: professed by Russia, namely: to whichever head the crown goes, he is
the true, the legitimate sovereign. Mirabeau had reason to say: "There
has been but one mesalliance in my family,--that of the Medici"; for
in spite of the paid efforts of genealogists, it is certain that the
Medici, before Everardo de' Medici, /gonfaloniero/ of Florence in
1314, were simple Florentine merchants who became very rich. The first
personage in this family who occupies an important place in the
history of the famous Tuscan republic is Silvestro de' Medici,
/gonfaloniero/ in 1378. This Silvestro had two sons, Cosmo and Lorenzo
de' Medici.
From Cosmo are descended Lorenzo the Magnificent, the Duc de Nemours,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens: you.'
'Don't desire to?'--returned the other, muffling himself as before.
'I don't,' said Gabriel; 'to be plain with you, friend, you don't
carry in your countenance a letter of recommendation.'
'It's not my wish,' said the traveller. 'My humour is to be
avoided.'
'Well,' said the locksmith bluntly, 'I think you'll have your
humour.'
'I will, at any cost,' rejoined the traveller. 'In proof of it,
lay this to heart--that you were never in such peril of your life
as you have been within these few moments; when you are within
Barnaby Rudge |
