| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: chair by the corner pillar, continuing to sell old iron while the
infant sucked. Her milk cost nothing, and she let her little daughter
feed on it for two years, neither of them being the worse for the long
nursing.
Veronique (that was the infant's name) became the handsomest child in
the Lower town, and every one who saw her stopped to look at her. The
neighbors then noticed for the first time a trace of feeling in the
old Sauviats, of which they had supposed them devoid. While the wife
cooked the dinner the husband held the little one, or rocked it to the
tune of an Auvergnat song. The workmen as they passed sometimes saw
him motionless gazing at Veronique asleep on her mother's knees. He
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Egmont by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: womanish softness, ill-timed concession, and that women can ride trained
steeds, well enough, but are themselves bad masters of the horse, and the
like pleasantries, which, in former times, I have been compelled to hear
from political gentlemen.
Machiavel. You have chosen good colours for your picture.
Regent. Confess, Machiavel, among the tints from which I might select,
there is no hue so livid, so jaundice-like, as Alva's complexion, and the
colour he is wont to paint with. He regards every one as a blasphemer or
traitor, for under this head they can all be racked, impaled, quartered, and
burnt at pleasure. The good I have accomplished here appears as nothing
seen from a distance, just because it is good. Then he dwells on every
Egmont |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy: the other observing curiously the effect upon Arabella.
"Ah!" said the last-named slowly. "I own I didn't think of that way! ...
But suppose he ISN'T honourable? A woman had better not have tried it!"
"Nothing venture nothing have! Besides, you make sure that he's
honourable before you begin. You'd be safe enough with yours.
I wish I had the chance! Lots of girls do it; or do you think they'd
get married at all?"
Arabella pursued her way in silent thought. "I'll try it!"
she whispered; but not to them.
VIII
ONE week's end Jude was as usual walking out to his aunt's at Marygreen
Jude the Obscure |
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 First Men In The Moon by H. G. Wells: untenanted rooms of this bungalow of yours - "
He paused and regarded me.
A man of such possibilities, I reflected, is no ordinary guest to
entertain.
"Perhaps," said I, rising to my feet, " we had better begin by looking for
a trowel," and I led the way to the scattered vestiges of the greenhouse.
And while he was having his bath I considered the entire question alone.
It was clear there were drawbacks to Mr. Cavor's society I had not
foreseen. The absentmindedness that had just escaped depopulating the
terrestrial globe, might at any moment result in some other grave
inconvenience. On the other hand I was young, my affairs were in a mess,
The First Men In The Moon |
