| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: for granted,--had he been a lover of such kind of concord as arises from
two such instruments being put in exact tune,--he would instantly have
skrew'd up his, to the same pitch;--and then the devil and all had broke
loose--the whole piece, Madam, must have been played off like the sixth of
Avison Scarlatti--con furia,--like mad.--Grant me patience!--What has con
furia,--con strepito,--or any other hurly burly whatever to do with
harmony?
Any man, I say, Madam, but my uncle Toby, the benignity of whose heart
interpreted every motion of the body in the kindest sense the motion would
admit of, would have concluded my father angry, and blamed him too. My
uncle Toby blamed nothing but the taylor who cut the pocket-hole;--so
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Camille by Alexandre Dumas: exquisitely beautiful. Her slenderness was a charm. I was lost in
contemplation.
What was passing in my mind I should have some difficulty in
explaining. I was full of indulgence for her life, full of
admiration for her beauty. The proof of disinterestedness that
she gave in not accepting a rich and fashionable young man, ready
to waste all his money upon her, excused her in my eyes for all
her faults in the past.
There was a kind of candour in this woman. You could see she was
still in the virginity of vice. Her firm walk, her supple figure,
her rosy, open nostrils, her large eyes, slightly tinged with
Camille |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Allan Quatermain by H. Rider Haggard: of his mouth, whereby he nearly aroused the Masai camp with
teeth-chattering and brought about the failure of our plans:
ending up with a request for an explanation.
But if we expected to find Alphonse at a loss and put him to
open shame we were destined to be disappointed. He bowed and
scraped and smiled, and acknowledged that his conduct might at
first blush appear strange, but really it was not, inasmuch as
his teeth were not chattering from fear -- oh, dear no! oh, certainly
not! he marvelled how the 'messieurs' could think of such a thing
-- but from the chill air of the morning. As for the rag, if
monsieur could have but tasted its evil flavour, being compounded
Allan Quatermain |
