| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Middlemarch by George Eliot: all--nay, more than all--those qualities which I have ever regarded
as the characteristic excellences of womanhood. The great charm
of your sex is its capability of an ardent self-sacrificing affection,
and herein we see its fitness to round and complete the existence
of our own. Hitherto I have known few pleasures save of the severer
kind: my satisfactions have been those of the solitary student.
I have been little disposed to gather flowers that would wither
in my hand, but now I shall pluck them with eagerness, to place
them in your bosom."
No speech could have been more thoroughly honest in its intention:
the frigid rhetoric at the end was as sincere as the bark of a dog,
Middlemarch |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Iliad by Homer: of the weapon, struck at once by the spear and by the strong hand
of Ajax, so that the bloody brain came oozing out through the
crest-socket. His strength then failed him and he let Patroclus'
foot drop from his hand, as he fell full length dead upon the
body; thus he died far from the fertile land of Larissa, and
never repaid his parents the cost of bringing him up, for his
life was cut short early by the spear of mighty Ajax. Hector then
took aim at Ajax with a spear, but he saw it coming and just
managed to avoid it; the spear passed on and struck Schedius son
of noble Iphitus, captain of the Phoceans, who dwelt in famed
Panopeus and reigned over much people; it struck him under the
The Iliad |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Sir John Mandeville: CHAPTER XXXIII
OF THE HILLS OF GOLD THAT PISMIRES KEEP. AND OF THE FOUR FLOODS
THAT COME FROM PARADISE TERRESTRIAL
TOWARD the east part of Prester John's land is an isle good and
great, that men clepe Taprobane, that is full noble and full
fructuous. And the king thereof is full rich, and is under the
obeissance of Prester John. And always there they make their king
by election. In that isle be two summers and two winters, and men
harvest the corn twice a year. And in all the seasons of the year
be the gardens flourished. There dwell good folk and reasonable,
and many Christian men amongst them, that be so rich that they wit
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