| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: Vinci's (I have dealt in pictures), so magnificently full of life and
energy was she; there was nothing starved nor stinted in feature or
outline; she awakened desire; it seemed to me that there was some
passion in her yet stronger than love. I was taken with her. It was a
long while since my heart had throbbed; so I was paid then and there--
for I would give a thousand francs for a sensation that should bring
me back memories of youth.
" ' "Monsieur," she said, finding a chair for me, "will you be so good
as to wait?"
" ' "Until this time to-morrow, madame," I said, folding up the bill
again. "I cannot legally protest this bill any sooner." And within
Gobseck |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Chronicles of the Canongate by Walter Scott: and 11th Earls. She survived her husband, who died 1729, no less
than fifty-seven years, and died March 1780, in her ninety-first
year. Allan Ramsay's Gentle Shepherd, published 1726, is
dedicated to her, in verse, by Hamilton of Bangour.
The following account of this distinguished lady is taken from
Boswell's Life of Johnson by Mr. Croker:--
"Lady Margaret Dalrymple, only daughter of John, Earl of Stair,
married in 1700, to Hugh, third Earl of Loudoun. She died in
1777, aged ONE HUNDRED. Of this venerable lady, and of the
Countess of Eglintoune, whom Johnson visited next day, he thus
speaks in his JOURNEY:--'Length of life is distributed
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Pierrette by Honore de Balzac: women found a way of escape from that dreadful establishment than they
fled, with rejoicings that increased the already bad name of the
Rogrons. New victims were supplied yearly by the indefatigable old
father.
From the time she was fifteen, Sylvie Rogron, trained to the simpering
of a saleswoman, had two faces,--the amiable face of the seller, the
natural face of a sour spinster. Her acquired countenance was a
marvellous bit of mimicry. She was all smiles. Her voice, soft and
wheedling, gave a commercial charm to business. Her real face was that
we have already seen projecting from the half-opened blinds; the mere
sight of her would have put to flight the most resolute Cossack of
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