| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Tapestried Chamber by Walter Scott: his son had no part in his sorrow. If he thought of him at all,
it was as the degenerate boy through whom the honour of his
country and clan had been lost; and he died in the course of
three days, never even mentioning his name, but pouring out
unintermitted lamentations for the loss of his noble sword.
I conceive that the moment when the disabled chief was roused
into a last exertion by the agony of the moment is favourable to
the object of a painter. He might obtain the full advantage of
contrasting the form of the rugged old man, in the extremity of
furious despair, with the softness and beauty of the female form.
The fatal field might be thrown into perspective, so as to give
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Commission in Lunacy by Honore de Balzac: may compromise herself without mischief, and whom he may belie without
harmful results. Fancy Mahomet in Paris in the nineteenth century! His
wife would be a Rohan, a Duchesse de Chevreuse of the Fronde, as keen
and as flattering as an Ambassadress, as wily as Figaro. Your loving
wives lead nowhere; a woman of the world leads to everything; she is
the diamond with which a man cuts every window when he has not the
golden key which unlocks every door. Leave humdrum virtues to the
humdrum, ambitious vices to the ambitious.
"Besides, my dear fellow, do you imagine that the love of a Duchesse
de Langeais, or de Maufrigneuse, or of a Lady Dudley does not bestow
immense pleasure? If only you knew how much value the cold, severe
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Rescue by Joseph Conrad: truth or two--but--never mind. There's the law and that's enough
for me. I am captain as long as he is out of the ship, and if his
address before very long is not in one of Her Majesty's jails or
other I au-tho-rize you to call me a Dutchman. You mark my
words."
He walked in masterfully, sat down and surveyed the cabin in a
leisurely and autocratic manner; but suddenly his eyes became
stony with amazement and indignation; he pointed a fat and
trembling forefinger.
"Niggers," he said, huskily. "In the cuddy! In the cuddy!" He
appeared bereft of speech for a time.
The Rescue |
