| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Criminal Sociology by Enrico Ferri: imprisonment, 587,938 persons by the Pretors, and 465,130 by the
Correctional Tribunals. That is, more than a million terms in the
minor courts within ten years!
And the total number sentenced in Italy to various punishments, by
Pretors, Tribunals, and Assize Courts, in the same ten years, was
not less than 3,230,000.
As for recidivism, without repeating the familiar figures of its
annual increase, it will suffice to recall the astounding fact to
which I drew attention before the central Commission of Legal
Judicial Statistics. That is to say, amongst the prisoners
condemned in 1887 for simple homicide, there were 224 who had been
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: narratives, he mixed many a dose of salutary criticism with the
panegyrics which my composition was at times so fortunate as to
call forth.
"Your characters," he said, "my dear Pattieson, make too much
use of the gob box; they patter too much (an elegant
phraseology which Dick had learned while painting the scenes of
an itinerant company of players); there is nothing in whole pages
but mere chat and dialogue."
"The ancient philosopher," said I in reply, "was wont to say,
'Speak, that I may know thee'; and how is it possible for an
author to introduce his personae dramatis to his readers in a
The Bride of Lammermoor |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Duchess of Padua by Oscar Wilde: Because they are mothers merely; yet I think
Women are the best artists of the world,
For they can take the common lives of men
Soiled with the money-getting of our age,
And with love make them beautiful.
DUCHESS
Ah, dear,
I wish that you and I were very poor;
The poor, who love each other, are so rich.
GUIDO
Tell me again you love me, Beatrice.
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