| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: war in Italy, a Capponi, a goddaughter of the Countess of Albany
(hence La Palferine's final names). Rusticoli was one of the best
colonels in the army. The Emperor made him a commander of the Legion
of Honor and a count. His spine was slightly curved, and his son was
wont to say of him laughingly that he was /un comte refait
(contrefait)/.
"General Count Rusticoli, for he became a brigadier-general at
Ratisbon and a general of the division on the field of Wagram, died at
Vienna almost immediately after his promotion, or his name and ability
would sooner or later have brought him the marshal's baton. Under the
Restoration he would certainly have repaired the fortunes of a great
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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: medium of romance, that we are prevented from seeing that the
two cases are the same. It is not that there is anything
blurred or indefinite in the impression left with us, it is
just because the impression is so very definite after its own
kind, that we find it hard to fit it exactly with the
expressions of our philosophical speech.
It is this idea which underlies and issues from a romance,
this something which it is the function of that form of art
to create, this epical value, that I propose chiefly to seek
and, as far as may be, to throw into relief, in the present
study. It is thus, I believe, that we shall see most clearly
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Underground City by Jules Verne: a kind of ashy light was spread abroad. At length one solitary
ray struck on the maiden's sight. It was that ray of green which,
morning or evening, is reflected upwards from the sea when
the horizon is clear.
An instant afterwards, Nell turned, and pointing towards a bright
prominent point in the New Town, "Fire!" cried she.
"No, Nell, that is no fire," said Harry. "The sun has touched with gold
the top of Sir Walter Scott's monument"--and, indeed, the extreme point
of the monument blazed like the light of a pharos.
It was day--the sun arose--his disc seemed to glitter
as though he indeed emerged from the waters of the sea.
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