| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Letters of Two Brides by Honore de Balzac: sun, than scribing in his dingy garret. Now, practical people have a
way of tarring with the same brush of inconstancy authors, artists,
and in general all men who live by their brains. Their nimble and
fertile wit lays them open to the charge of a like agility in matters
of the heart.
Spite of the debts, spite of the difference in age, spite of the
poetry, an end is to be placed in a few days to a heroic resistance of
more than nine months, during which he has not been allowed even to
kiss my hand, and so also ends the season of our sweet, pure love-
making. This is not the mere surrender of a raw, ignorant, and curious
girl, as it was eight years ago; the gift is deliberate, and my lover
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: his early friend.
On receiving Monsieur Gaston's letter, my first idea was to write to
the sculptor and ask him to come and see me, but finding that he was
not entirely recovered from his wound, I went, accompanied by my
husband and Nais, to the artist's studio, which we found in a pleasant
little house in the rue de l'Ouest, behind the garden of the
Luxembourg, one of the most retired quarters of Paris. We were
received in the vestibule by a woman about whom Monsieur de l'Estorade
had already said a word to me. It appears that the /laureat/ of Rome
did not leave Italy without bringing away with him an agreeable
souvenir in the form of a bourgeoise Galatea, half housekeeper, half
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from An Historical Mystery by Honore de Balzac: opened it and gave entrance to the abbe, whose breeches were torn in
climbing over the walls of the park.
"Fly! they are coming to arrest you," he cried.
"Why?"
"I don't know yet; but there's a warrant against you."
The words were greeted with general laughter.
"We are innocent," said the young men.
"Innocent or guilty," said the abbe, "mount your horses and make for
the frontier. There you can prove your innocence. You could overcome a
sentence by default; you will never overcome a sentence rendered by
popular passion and instigated by prejudice. Remember the words of
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The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: had been in former times the buttery of the castle. Here the old
man was employed busily in the doubtful task of
burnishing a pewter flagon until it should take the hue and
semblance of silver-plate. "I think it may do--I think it might
pass, if they winna bring it ower muckle in the light o' the
window!" were the ejaculations which he muttered from time to
time, as if to encourage himself in his undertaking, when he was
interrupted by the voice of his master.
"Take this," said the Master of Ravenswood, "and get what is
necessary for the family." And with these words he gave to the
old butler the purse which had on the preceding evening so
The Bride of Lammermoor |
