| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: once escaped from the pursuit of the enemy by the shelter of this
cavern, and therefore chose it for my final residence. I employed
artificers to form it into chambers, and stored it with all that I
was likely to want.
"For some time after my retreat I rejoiced like a tempest-beaten
sailor at his entrance into the harbour, being delighted with the
sudden change of the noise and hurry of war to stillness and
repose. When the pleasure of novelty went away, I employed my
hours in examining the plants which grow in the valley, and the
minerals which I collected from the rocks. But that inquiry is now
grown tasteless and irksome. I have been for some time unsettled
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Familiar Studies of Men and Books by Robert Louis Stevenson: over the night of some foul and feverish city.
There is here a quality in the narration more intimate and
particular than is general with Hugo; but it must be owned,
on the other hand, that the book is wordy, and even, now and
then, a little wearisome. Ursus and his wolf are pleasant
enough companions; but the former is nearly as much an
abstract type as the latter. There is a beginning, also, of
an abuse of conventional conversation, such as may be quite
pardonable in the drama where needs must, but is without
excuse in the romance. Lastly, I suppose one must say a word
or two about the weak points of this not immaculate novel;
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas: of the next village, where my brother and I were drinking."
"And what did you do?" said D'Artagnan.
"We let them tell their story out," replied Mousqueton. "Then,
as in leaving the cabaret they took different directions, my
brother went and hid himself on the road of the Catholic, and I
on that of the Huguenot. Two hours after, all was over; we had
done the business of both, admiring the foresight of our poor
father, who had taken the precaution to bring each of us up in a
different religion."
"Well, I must allow, as you say, your father was a very
intelligent fellow. And you say in his leisure moments the
The Three Musketeers |
