| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Illustrious Gaudissart by Honore de Balzac: have been scattered throughout France to stimulate the zeal and self-
love of the "progressive and intelligent masses"! Titles, medals,
diplomas, a sort of legion of honor invented for the army of martyrs,
have followed each other with marvellous rapidity. Speculators in the
manufactured products of the intellect have developed a spice, a
ginger, all their own. From this have come premiums, forestalled
dividends, and that conscription of noted names which is levied
without the knowledge of the unfortunate writers who bear them, and
who thus find themselves actual co-operators in more enterprises than
there are days in the year; for the law, we may remark, takes no
account of the theft of a patronymic. Worse than all is the rape of
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Weir of Hermiston by Robert Louis Stevenson: he's rude - of course, I couldn't be expected to stand that - but he
steers very near the wind. No, it's not pleasant; but I tell ye, man,
in conscience I don't think it would be fair to leave him. Mind you, I
don't say there's anything actually wrong. What I say is that I don't
like the looks of it, man!" and he would press the arm of his momentary
confidant.
In the early stages I am persuaded there was no malice. He talked but
for the pleasure of airing himself. He was essentially glib, as becomes
the young advocate, and essentially careless of the truth, which is the
mark of the young ass; and so he talked at random. There was no
particular bias, but that one which is indigenous and universal, to
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Figure in the Carpet by Henry James: intellectual" that it struck people as a suitable match, but I had
measured better than any one the wealth of understanding the bride
would contribute to the union. Never, for a marriage in literary
circles - so the newspapers described the alliance - had a lady
been so bravely dowered. I began with due promptness to look for
the fruit of the affair - that fruit, I mean, of which the
premonitory symptoms would be peculiarly visible in the husband.
Taking for granted the splendour of the other party's nuptial gift,
I expected to see him make a show commensurate with his increase of
means. I knew what his means had been - his article on "The Right
of Way" had distinctly given one the figure. As he was now exactly
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