| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: foreign countries; and finally, when he received his simple mourning
clothes from Paris, he sent for the tailor of Saumur and sold to him
his useless wardrobe. This last act pleased Grandet exceedingly.
"Ah! now you look like a man prepared to embark and make your
fortune," he said, when Charles appeared in a surtout of plain black
cloth. "Good! very good!"
"I hope you will believe, monsieur," answered his nephew, "that I
shall always try to conform to my situation."
"What's that?" said his uncle, his eyes lighting up at a handful of
gold which Charles was carrying.
"Monsieur, I have collected all my buttons and rings and other
 Eugenie Grandet |
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 Psychology of Revolution by Gustave le Bon: the spirit of equality leads to the despotism of a single person,
as the despotism of a single person leads to conquest.''
The ideal of Montesquieu was the English constitutional
government, which prevented the monarchy from degenerating into
despotism. Otherwise the influence of this philosopher at the
moment of the Revolution was very slight.
As for the Encyclopaedists, to whom such a considerable
role is attributed, they hardly dealt with politics,
excepting d'Holbach, a liberal monarchist like Voltaire and
Diderot. They wrote chiefly in defence of individual liberty,
opposing the encroachments of the Church, at that time extremely
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