| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Paz by Honore de Balzac: a riot is always enough to veer the Parisians from north to south
under any regime. It is necessary to remember these sudden
fluctuations of feeling in order to understand why it was that in 1835
the word "Pole" conveyed a derisive meaning to a people who consider
themselves the wittiest and most courteous nation on earth, and their
city of Paris the focus of enlightenment, with the sceptre of arts and
literature within its grasp.
There are, alas! two sorts of Polish exiles,--the republican Poles,
sons of Lelewel, and the noble Poles, at the head of whom is Prince
Adam Czartoryski. The two classes are like fire and water; but why
complain of that? Such divisions are always to be found among exiles,
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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 Chance by Joseph Conrad: very still, puckered at the corners, like a man perceiving something
coming at him from a great distance. And Mrs. Anthony's voice
reached Powell's ears, entreating and indignant.
"You can't cast me off like this, Roderick. I won't go away from
you. I won't--"
Powell turned about and discovered then that what Mr. Smith was
puckering his eyes at, was the sight of his daughter clinging round
Captain Anthony's neck--a sight not in itself improper, but which
had the power to move young Powell with a bashfully profound
emotion. It was different from his emotion while spying at the
revelations of the skylight, but in this case too he felt the
 Chance |