| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: Next day Rodolphe heard that the lodgers at the Bergmanns' had left at
daybreak. It then seemed to him intolerable to remain at Gersau, and
he set out for Vevay by the longest route, starting sooner than was
necessary. Attracted to the waters of the lake where the beautiful
Italian awaited him, he reached Geneva by the end of October. To avoid
the discomforts of the town he took rooms in a house at Eaux-Vives,
outside the walls. As soon as he was settled, his first care was to
ask his landlord, a retired jeweler, whether some Italian refugees
from Milan had not lately come to reside at Geneva.
"Not so far as I know," replied the man. "Prince and Princess Colonna
of Rome have taken Monsieur Jeanrenaud's place for three years; it is
Albert Savarus |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Alcibiades II by Platonic Imitator: which we propose so confidently to do or say?
ALCIBIADES: Yes, in my opinion.
SOCRATES: We may take the orators for an example, who from time to time
advise us about war and peace, or the building of walls and the
construction of harbours, whether they understand the business in hand, or
only think that they do. Whatever the city, in a word, does to another
city, or in the management of her own affairs, all happens by the counsel
of the orators.
ALCIBIADES: True.
SOCRATES: But now see what follows, if I can (make it clear to you).
(Some words appear to have dropped out here.) You would distinguish the
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from My Aunt Margaret's Mirror by Walter Scott: maintaining a tone of composure, though somewhat surprised; "but
the situation is something new to me. If you know who we are,
you also know, sir, what brought us here."
"Curiosity to know the fate of a Scottish gentleman of rank, now,
or lately, upon the Continent," answered the seer. "His name is
Il Cavaliero Philippo Forester, a gentleman who has the honour to
be husband to this lady, and, with your ladyship's permission for
using plain language, the misfortune not to value as it deserves
that inestimable advantage."
Lady Forester sighed deeply, and Lady Bothwell replied,--
"Since you know our object without our telling it, the only
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