| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Essays of Francis Bacon by Francis Bacon: bravery. Yet beware of being too material, when
there is any impediment or obstruction in men's
wills; for pre-occupation of mind ever requireth
preface of speech; like a fomentation to make the
unguent enter.
Above all things, order, and distribution, and
singling out of parts, is the life of dispatch; so as the
distribution be not too subtle: for he that doth not
divide, will never enter well into business; and he
that divideth too much, will never come out of it
clearly. To choose time, is to save time; and an un-
Essays of Francis Bacon |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Enemies of Books by William Blades: down all his books close to the text, because he had been several
times annoyed by readers who made marginal notes.
The indignities, too, suffered by some books in their lettering!
Fancy an early black-letter fifteenth-century quarto on Knighthood,
labelled "Tracts"; or a translation of Virgil, "Sermons"! The "Histories
of Troy," printed by Caxton, still exists with "Eracles" on
the back, as its title, because that name occurs several times
in the early chapters, and the binder was too proud to seek advice.
The words "Miscellaneous," or "Old Pieces," were sometimes used
when binders were at a loss for lettering, and many other instances
might be mentioned.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from What is Man? by Mark Twain: hours in this life.
From my windows I saw the hearse and the carriages wind
along the road and gradually grow vague and spectral in the
falling snow, and presently disappear. Jean was gone out of my
life, and would not come back any more. Jervis, the cousin she
had played with when they were babies together--he and her
beloved old Katy--were conducting her to her distant childhood
home, where she will lie by her mother's side once more, in the
company of Susy and Langdon.
DECEMBER 26TH. The dog came to see me at eight o'clock this
morning. He was very affectionate, poor orphan! My room will be
What is Man? |
