| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Two Brothers by Honore de Balzac: Though all Joseph's blood had flown to his head, he walked the
distance from the place Saint-Jean to the Palais with remarkable
calmness and self-possession. Nevertheless, he was very glad to find
himself in the private office of Monsieur Lousteau-Prangin.
"I need hardly tell you, gentlemen, that I am innocent," said Joseph,
addressing Monsieur Mouilleron, Monsieur Lousteau-Prangin, and the
clerk. "I can only beg you to assist me in proving my innocence. I
know nothing of this affair."
When the judge had stated all the suspicious facts which were against
him, ending with Max's declaration, Joseph was astounded.
"But," said he, "it was past five o'clock when I left the house. I
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: but as if sprung up by accident from scattered seeds. Like the
matted growth of bushes and creepers veiling the silent depths of
an unexplored wilderness, they hide the depths of London's
infinitely varied, vigorous, seething life. In other river ports
it is not so. They lie open to their stream, with quays like broad
clearings, with streets like avenues cut through thick timber for
the convenience of trade. I am thinking now of river ports I have
seen - of Antwerp, for instance; of Nantes or Bordeaux, or even old
Rouen, where the night-watchmen of ships, elbows on rail, gaze at
shop-windows and brilliant cafes, and see the audience go in and
come out of the opera-house. But London, the oldest and greatest
The Mirror of the Sea |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Royalty Restored/London Under Charles II by J. Fitzgerald Molloy: "should never have come to England again except for the pleasure
of seeing her, to love her as her daughter, and serve her as her
queen." At these sweet words the young wife, now in the first
days of her grief, was almost overcome by a sense of
thankfulness, and could scarce restrain her tears; but she
answered bravely, "Believe me, madam, that in love and obedience
neither the king nor any of your children shall exceed me."
The court of the merry monarch and that of the queen mother being
now settled in town, a period of vast brilliancy ensued, during
which great festivity and much scandal obtained, by reason of
intrigues in which the king and his friends indulged. Whitehall,
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