| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: gentleman devoted to roses and tulips, in a word, to horticulture, but
above all a lover of choice fruit. An arbor is visible, or rather the
wreck of an arbor, and under it a table still stands not entirely
destroyed by time. At the aspect of this garden that is no more, the
negative joys of the peaceful life of the provinces may be divined as
we divine the history of a worthy tradesman when we read the epitaph
on his tomb. To complete the mournful and tender impressions which
seize the soul, on one of the walls there is a sundial graced with
this homely Christian motto, '/Ultimam cogita/.'
"The roof of this house is dreadfully dilapidated; the outside
shutters are always closed; the balconies are hung with swallows'
La Grande Breteche |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Duchesse de Langeais by Honore de Balzac: homily and to hold a consultation as to the best way of putting a
stop to the scandal.
At three o'clock, therefore, M. le Duc de Navarreins, the Vidame
de Pamiers, the old Princesse de Blamont-Chauvry, and the Duc de
Grandlieu were assembled in Mme la Duchesse de Langeais's
drawing-room. To them, as to all curious enquirers, the servants
said that their mistress was not at home; the Duchess had made no
exceptions to her orders. But these four personages shone
conspicuous in that lofty sphere, of which the revolutions and
hereditary pretensions are solemnly recorded year by year in the
Almanach de Gotha, wherefore without some slight sketch of each
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: brother should be deposited with a notary, together with aquittances
for the forty-seven per cent already paid; he made this demand under
pretence of sifting the accounts and finding out the exact condition
of the estate. It roused at once a variety of difficulties. Generally
speaking, the creditor is a species of maniac, ready to agree to
anything one day, on the next breathing fire and slaughter; later on,
he grows amicable and easy-going. To-day his wife is good-humored, his
last baby has cut its first tooth, all is well at home, and he is
determined not to lose a sou; on the morrow it rains, he can't go out,
he is gloomy, he says yes to any proposal that is made to him, so long
as it will put an end to the affair; on the third day he declares he
Eugenie Grandet |
