| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Gambara by Honore de Balzac: to-day with a dish of his own concocting, which I recommend you to
avoid, though his wife has had an eye on him. The good man has a mania
for innovations. He ruined himself by experiments, the last of which
compelled him to fly from Rome without a passport--a circumstance he
does not talk about. After purchasing the good-will of a popular
restaurant he was trusted to prepare a banquet given by a lately made
Cardinal, whose household was not yet complete. Giardini fancied he
had an opportunity for distinguishing himself--and he succeeded! for
that same evening he was accused of trying to poison the whole
conclave, and was obliged to leave Rome and Italy without waiting to
pack up. This disaster was the last straw. Now," and Gambara put his
Gambara |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: me longer in Bath. And could we carry our selfish point
with you, we should leave it without a single regret.
Can you, in short, be prevailed on to quit this scene
of public triumph and oblige your friend Eleanor with your
company in Gloucestershire? I am almost ashamed to make
the request, though its presumption would certainly
appear greater to every creature in Bath than yourself.
Modesty such as yours--but not for the world would I pain
it by open praise. If you can be induced to honour us
with a visit, you will make us happy beyond expression.
'Tis true, we can offer you nothing like the gaieties
Northanger Abbey |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Pagan and Christian Creeds by Edward Carpenter: imaginative pictures of the kind of man the Saviour might
be expected to be,[2] is a question which, as I have already
said, is a difficult one for skilled critics to answer, and one
on which I certainly have no intention of giving a positive
verdict. Personally I must say I think the 'legendary'
solution quite likely, and in some ways more satisfactory
than the opposite one--for the simple reason that it seems
much more encouraging to suppose that the story of Jesus,
(gracious and beautiful as it is) is a myth which gradually
formed itself in the conscience of mankind, and thus points
the way of humanity's future evolution, than to suppose
Pagan and Christian Creeds |
