| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas: godson of that villain Cornelius de Witt."
The Prince gave a start, his generally quiet eye flashed,
and a death-like paleness spread over his impassible
features.
He went up to Rosa, and with his finger, gave her a sign to
remove her hands from her face.
Rosa obeyed, as if under mesmeric influence, without having
seen the sign.
"It was, then to follow this man that you came to me at
Leyden to solicit for the transfer of your father?"
Rosa hung down her head, and, nearly choking, said, --
The Black Tulip |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: read and to hear, to inquire and answer inquiries, is the business
of a scholar. He wanders about the world without pomp or terror,
and is neither known nor valued but by men like himself.
"I was born in the kingdom of Goiama, at no great distance from the
fountain of the Nile. My father was a wealthy merchant, who traded
between the inland countries of Africa and the ports of the Red
Sea. He was honest, frugal, and diligent, but of mean sentiments
and narrow comprehension; he desired only to be rich, and to
conceal his riches, lest he should be spoiled by the governors of
the province."
"Surely," said the Prince, "my father must be negligent of his
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Pierre Grassou by Honore de Balzac: examining jury made for it, the attention of the public is soon
wearied and the exhibition closes. Before the year 1817 the pictures
admitted never went beyond the first two columns of the long gallery
of the old masters; but in that year, to the great astonishment of the
public, they filled the whole space. Historical, high-art, genre
paintings, easel pictures, landscapes, flowers, animals, and water-
colors,--these eight specialties could surely not offer more than
twenty pictures in one year worthy of the eyes of the public, which,
indeed, cannot give its attention to a greater number of such works.
The more the number of artists increases, the more careful and
exacting the jury of admission ought to be.
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