| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde: Oh! she is very feminine, Caroline, and so good too. You should
hear what the Archdeacon says of her. He regards her as his right
hand in the parish. [Footman speaks to her.] In the Yellow
Drawing-room. Shall we all go in? Lady Stutfield, shall we go in
to tea?
LADY STUTFIELD. With pleasure, Lady Hunstanton. [They rise and
proceed to go off. SIR JOHN offers to carry LADY STUTFIELD'S
cloak.]
LADY CAROLINE. John! If you would allow your nephew to look after
Lady Stutfield's cloak, you might help me with my workbasket.
[Enter LORD ILLINGWORTH and MRS. ALLONBY.]
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Ancient Regime by Charles Kingsley: halter and the sword. Such a Government can never take itself for
granted, because it knows that it is not taken for granted by the
people. It never can possess the quiet assurance, the courteous
dignity, without swagger, yet without hesitation, which belongs to
hereditary legislators; by which term is to be understood, not
merely kings, not merely noblemen, but every citizen of a free
nation, however democratic, who has received from his forefathers
the right, the duty, and the example of self-government.
Such was the political and social state of the Ancien Regime, not
only in France, but if we are to trust (as we must trust) M. de
Tocqueville, in almost every nation in Europe, except Britain.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Chouans by Honore de Balzac: "Oh! if Corentin is at the bottom of all this, nothing surprises me,"
she cried, with a gesture of disgust.
The commandant went his way without daring to look at Mademoiselle de
Verneuil, whose dangerous beauty began to affect him.
"If I had stayed two minutes longer I should have committed the folly
of taking back my sword and escorting her," he was saying to himself
as he went down the stairs.
As Madame du Gua watched the young man, whose eyes were fixed on the
door through which Mademoiselle de Verneuil had passed, she said to
him in a low voice: "You are incorrigible. You will perish through a
woman. A doll can make you forget everything. Why did you allow her to
The Chouans |
