The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Country Doctor by Honore de Balzac: to us by the presence of one we love, we pour out the secret gladness
that overflows our hearts upon inanimate things, investing them with
beauty in our happiness. The charm of the scenery which passed before
our eyes became in this way an interpreter between us, for in our
praises of the landscape we revealed to each other the secrets of our
love. Evelina's mother sometimes took a mischievous pleasure in
disconcerting her daughter.
" 'My dear child, you have been through this valley a score of times
without seeming to admire it!' she remarked after a somewhat too
enthusiastic phrase from Evelina.
" 'No doubt it was because I was not old enough to understand beauty
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Legend of Montrose by Walter Scott: studied humanity at the Mareschal-College of Aberdeen, and served
half the princes of Europe!"
"Captain Dalgetty," said Lord Menteith, whose lot it was to stand
peacemaker throughout the evening, "please to understand that
Anderson waits upon no one but myself; but I will help Sibbald to
undo your corslet with much pleasure."
"Too much trouble for you, my lord," said Dalgetty; "and yet it
would do you no harm to practise how a handsome harness is put on
and put off. I can step in and out of mine like a glove; only
to-night, although not EBRIUS, I am, in the classic phrase, VINO
CIBOQUE GRAVATUS."
|