| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Legend of Montrose by Walter Scott: men, not only would his progress have been effectually stopped,
but his army must have been in danger of being totally cut off.
Security, however, the bane of many a strong country and many a
fortress, betrayed, on this occasion, the district of Argyle to
his enemies. The invaders had only to contend with the natural
difficulties of the path, and with the snow, which, fortunately,
had not fallen in any great quantity. The army no sooner reached
the summit of the ridge of hills dividing Argyleshire from the
district of Breadalbane, than they rushed down upon the devoted
vales beneath them with a fury sufficiently expressive of the
motives which had dictated a movement so difficult and hazardous.
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: his mourning horse by the bridle, to follow his hearse, as he directed
thee;--where--all my father's systems shall be baffled by his sorrows; and,
in spite of his philosophy, I shall behold him, as he inspects the lackered
plate, twice taking his spectacles from off his nose, to wipe away the dew
which nature has shed upon them--When I see him cast in the rosemary with
an air of disconsolation, which cries through my ears,--O Toby! in what
corner of the world shall I seek thy fellow?
--Gracious powers! which erst have opened the lips of the dumb in his
distress, and made the tongue of the stammerer speak plain--when I shall
arrive at this dreaded page, deal not with me, then, with a stinted hand.
Chapter 3.LXIX.
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Purse by Honore de Balzac: his love. The moment he mentioned the Rue de Suresnes, and a
young girl living on the fourth floor, "Stop, stop," cried
Souchet lightly. "A little girl I see every morning at the Church
of the Assumption, and with whom I have a flirtation. But, my
dear fellow, we all know her. The mother is a Baroness. Do you
really believe in a Baroness living up four flights of stairs?
Brrr! Why, you are a relic of the golden age! We see the old
mother here, in this avenue, every day; why, her face, her
appearance, tell everything. What, have you not known her for
what she is by the way she holds her bag?"
The two friends walked up and down for some time, and several
|
