| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: from unexceptionable, might for a time make her wish for retirement. But
I cannot forget the length of her visit to the Mainwarings, and when I
reflect on the different mode of life which she led with them from that to
which she must now submit, I can only suppose that the wish of establishing
her reputation by following though late the path of propriety, occasioned
her removal from a family where she must in reality have been particularly
happy. Your friend Mr. Smith's story, however, cannot be quite correct, as
she corresponds regularly with Mrs. Mainwaring. At any rate it must be
exaggerated. It is scarcely possible that two men should be so grossly
deceived by her at once.
Yours, &c.,
Lady Susan |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift: among us, sacrificing the poor innocent babes, I doubt, more to
avoid the expence than the shame, which would move tears and pity
in the most savage and inhuman breast.
The number of souls in this kingdom being usually reckoned one
million and a half, of these I calculate there may be about two
hundred thousand couple whose wives are breeders; from which
number I subtract thirty thousand couple, who are able to
maintain their own children, (although I apprehend there cannot
be so many, under the present distresses of the kingdom) but this
being granted, there will remain an hundred and seventy thousand
breeders. I again subtract fifty thousand, for those women who
A Modest Proposal |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from War and the Future by H. G. Wells: whatever up to 20,000 feet, would restore the defensive and
establish what I should think must be the final grade of war, A3.
But at present nothing of the sort exists and nothing of the sort
is likely to exist for a very long time; at present hitting an
aeroplane by any sort of gun at all is a rare and uncertain
achievement. Such a gun is not impossible and therefore we must
suppose such a gun will some day be constructed, but it will be
of a novel type and character, unlike anything at present in
existence. The grade of fighting that I was privileged to
witness on the Somme, the grade at which a steady successful
offensive is possible, is therefore, I conclude, the grade at
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