| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Moral Emblems by Robert Louis Stevenson: I move with that illustrious crew,
The ambidextrous Kings of Art;
And every mortal thing I do
Brings ringing money in the mart.
Hence, in the morning hour, the mead,
The forest and the stream perceive
Me wandering as the muses lead -
Or back returning in the eve.
Two muses like two maiden aunts,
The engraving and the singing muse,
Follow, through all my favourite haunts,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Mistress Wilding by Rafael Sabatini: Westmacott's last words, still intent upon saving the situation.
"In Heaven's name..." he began, when Mr. Wilding, ever calm and smiling,
though now a trifle sinister, waved him gently into silence. But that
persisting calm of Mr. Wilding's was too much for old Nick Trenchard.
He rose abruptly, drawing all eyes upon himself. It was time, he
thought, he took a hand in this.
In addition to his affection for Wilding and his contempt for Westmacott,
he was filled with a fear that the latter might become dangerous if not
crushed at once. Gifted with a shrewd knowledge of men, acquired during
a chequered life of much sour experience, old Nick instinctively
mistrusted Richard. He had known him for a fool, a weakling, a babbler,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: to produce on his reader an impression similar or nearly similar to that
produced by the original. To him the feeling should be more important than
the exact word. He should remember Dryden's quaint admonition not to
'lacquey by the side of his author, but to mount up behind him.'
(Dedication to the Aeneis.) He must carry in his mind a comprehensive view
of the whole work, of what has preceded and of what is to follow,--as well
as of the meaning of particular passages. His version should be based, in
the first instance, on an intimate knowledge of the text; but the precise
order and arrangement of the words may be left to fade out of sight, when
the translation begins to take shape. He must form a general idea of the
two languages, and reduce the one to the terms of the other. His work
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