| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Black Dwarf by Walter Scott: "For shame! Mareschal," said Mr. Vere, "how can you so hastily
misinterpret our friend's intentions? I am sure Sir Frederick
can only be jesting with us; for, were he not too honourable to
dream of deserting the cause, he cannot but remember the full
proofs we have of his accession to it, and his eager activity in
advancing it. He cannot but be conscious, besides, that the
first information will be readily received by government, and
that if the question be, which can first lodge intelligence of
the affair, we can easily save a few hours on him."
"You should say you, and not we, when you talk of priorities in
such a race of treachery; for my part, I won't enter my horse for
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Sarrasine by Honore de Balzac: attentively, and not without a sweet smile of satisfaction, the
exquisite grace of the outlines, the attitude, the color, the hair, in
fact everything.
"He is too beautiful for a man," she added, after such a scrutiny as
she would have bestowed upon a rival.
Ah! how sharply I felt at that moment those pangs of jealousy in which
a poet had tried in vain to make me believe! the jealousy of
engravings, of pictures, of statues, wherein artists exaggerate human
beauty, as a result of the doctrine which leads them to idealize
everything.
"It is a portrait," I replied. "It is a product of Vien's genius. But
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Phaedo by Plato: and the soul always weaves another garment and repairs the waste. But of
course, whenever the soul perishes, she must have on her last garment, and
this will survive her; and then at length, when the soul is dead, the body
will show its native weakness, and quickly decompose and pass away. I
would therefore rather not rely on the argument from superior strength to
prove the continued existence of the soul after death. For granting even
more than you affirm to be possible, and acknowledging not only that the
soul existed before birth, but also that the souls of some exist, and will
continue to exist after death, and will be born and die again and again,
and that there is a natural strength in the soul which will hold out and be
born many times--nevertheless, we may be still inclined to think that she
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