| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Phaedo by Plato: wise and orderly soul follows in the straight path and is conscious of her
surroundings; but the soul which desires the body, and which, as I was
relating before, has long been fluttering about the lifeless frame and the
world of sight, is after many struggles and many sufferings hardly and with
violence carried away by her attendant genius, and when she arrives at the
place where the other souls are gathered, if she be impure and have done
impure deeds, whether foul murders or other crimes which are the brothers
of these, and the works of brothers in crime--from that soul every one
flees and turns away; no one will be her companion, no one her guide, but
alone she wanders in extremity of evil until certain times are fulfilled,
and when they are fulfilled, she is borne irresistibly to her own fitting
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Hated Son by Honore de Balzac: a suitor. The only passion of his youth was for a celebrated woman
called La Belle Romaine. The distrust resulting from this new
misfortune made him suspicious to the point of not believing himself
capable of inspiring a true passion; and his character became so
savage that when he did have some successes in gallantry he owed them
to the terror inspired by his cruelty. The left hand of this terrible
Catholic, which lay on the outside of the bed, will complete this
sketch of his character. Stretched out as if to guard the countess, as
a miser guards his hoard, that enormous hand was covered with hair so
thick, it presented such a network of veins and projecting muscles,
that it gave the idea of a branch of birch clasped with a growth of
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte: impress me with the idea of a man given to such a relaxation, nor
of such an individual as the cottagers described him. I had early
formed my opinion of him; and, in spite of Miss Murray's
objurgations: was fully convinced that he was a man of strong
sense, firm faith, and ardent piety, but thoughtful and stern: and
when I found that, to his other good qualities, was added that of
true benevolence and gentle, considerate kindness, the discovery,
perhaps, delighted me the more, as I had not been prepared to
expect it.
CHAPTER XII - THE SHOWER
THE next visit I paid to Nancy Brown was in the second week in
Agnes Grey |
