| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: the stranger, to whom the signal was meant to convey, 'Hope.'
"At four o'clock, as the day was dawning, for it was the month of
September, the work was done. The mason was placed in charge of Jean,
and Monsieur de Merret slept in his wife's room.
"Next morning when he got up he said with apparent carelessness, 'Oh,
by the way, I must go to the Maire for the passport.' He put on his
hat, took two or three steps towards the door, paused, and took the
crucifix. His wife was trembling with joy.
" 'He will go to Duvivier's,' thought she.
"As soon as he had left, Madame de Merret rang for Rosalie, and then
in a terrible voice she cried: 'The pick! Bring the pick! and set to
La Grande Breteche |
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 Phantasmagoria and Other Poems by Lewis Carroll: gone to a ball at an Oxford Commemoration - and also as a specimen
of what might be done by making the Double Acrostic A CONNECTED
POEM instead of what it has hitherto been, a string of disjointed
stanzas, on every conceivable subject, and about as interesting to
read straight through as a page of a Cyclopaedia. The first two
stanzas describe the two main words, and each subsequent stanza one
of the cross "lights."
No. II. was written after seeing Miss Ellen Terry perform in the
play of "Hamlet." In this case the first stanza describes the two
main words.
No. III. was written after seeing Miss Marion Terry perform in Mr.
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