| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Domestic Peace by Honore de Balzac: "Why does not she dance, she is such a pretty creature?--May we
conclude a treaty of peace? If you will vouchsafe to tell me all I
want to know, I promise you that a petition for the restitution of the
woods of Navarreins by the Commissioners of Crown Lands shall be
strongly urged on the Emperor."
The younger branch of the house of Navarreins bears quarterly with the
arms of Navarreins those of Lansac, namely, azure, and argent party
per pale raguly, between six spear-heads in pale, and the old lady's
liaison with Louis XV. had earned her husband the title of duke by
royal patent. Now, as the Navarreins had not yet resettled in France,
it was sheer trickery that the young lawyer thus proposed to the old
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: feelings guessed, her soul wooed by my soul; above all, not see the
sympathy of young love, ready like a faithful dog to spring at the
throat of whoever threatened his mistress, without regard to the
assailant's strength or quality. At such cruel moments the count's air
of superiority was supreme. He thought he had triumphed over his wife,
and he pursued her with a hail of phrases which repeated the one idea,
and were like the blows of an axe which fell with unvarying sound.
"Always the same?" I said, when the count left us to follow the
huntsman who came to speak to him.
"Always," answered Jacques.
"Always excellent, my son," she said, endeavoring to withdraw Monsieur
The Lily of the Valley |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Statesman by Plato: style, in which the thoughts of youth and love have fled away, and we are
no longer tended by the Muses or the Graces. We do not venture to say that
Plato was soured by old age, but certainly the kindliness and courtesy of
the earlier dialogues have disappeared. He sees the world under a harder
and grimmer aspect: he is dealing with the reality of things, not with
visions or pictures of them: he is seeking by the aid of dialectic only,
to arrive at truth. He is deeply impressed with the importance of
classification: in this alone he finds the true measure of human things;
and very often in the process of division curious results are obtained.
For the dialectical art is no respecter of persons: king and vermin-taker
are all alike to the philosopher. There may have been a time when the king
Statesman |
