| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Paz by Honore de Balzac: misfortunes. In his lonely and poverty-stricken life in Warsaw he had
read and taught himself a good deal; he had compared and meditated.
But the gift of original thought which makes a great man he did not
possess, and it can never be acquired. Paz, great in heart only,
approached in heart to the sublime; but in the sphere of sentiments,
being more a man of action than of thought, he kept his thoughts to
himself; and they only served therefore to eat his heart out. What,
after all, is a thought unexpressed?
After Clementine's little speech, the Marquis de Ronquerolles and his
sister exchanged a singular glance, embracing their niece, Comte Adam,
and Paz. It was one of those rapid scenes which take place only in
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Snow Image by Nathaniel Hawthorne: and nearly overcame him, but fled at the sound of footsteps along
the opposite pavement. Robin rubbed his eyes, discerned a man
passing at the foot of the balcony, and addressed him in a loud,
peevish, and lamentable cry.
"Hallo, friend! must I wait here all night for my kinsman, Major
Molineux?"
The sleeping echoes awoke, and answered the voice; and the
passenger, barely able to discern a figure sitting in the oblique
shade of the steeple, traversed the street to obtain a nearer
view. He was himself a gentleman in his prime, of open,
intelligent, cheerful, and altogether prepossessing countenance.
The Snow Image |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from De Profundis by Oscar Wilde: perhaps, they will realise how and in what spirit they should
approach me. . . .
The poor are wise, more charitable, more kind, more sensitive than
we are. In their eyes prison is a tragedy in a man's life, a
misfortune, a casuality, something that calls for sympathy in
others. They speak of one who is in prison as of one who is 'in
trouble' simply. It is the phrase they always use, and the
expression has the perfect wisdom of love in it. With people of
our own rank it is different. With us, prison makes a man a
pariah. I, and such as I am, have hardly any right to air and sun.
Our presence taints the pleasures of others. We are unwelcome when
|
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 Melmoth Reconciled by Honore de Balzac: the daughter to her mother when he brought her back after a waltz, a
little chat followed, and then an invitation in the most natural way
in the world. Once introduced into the house, the dragoon was dazzled
by the hospitality of a family who appeared to conceal their real
wealth beneath a show of careful economy. He was skilfully flattered
on all sides, and every one extolled for his benefit the various
treasures there displayed. A neatly timed dinner, served on plate lent
by an uncle, the attention shown to him by the only daughter of the
house, the gossip of the town, a well-to-do sub-lieutenant who seemed
likely to cut the ground from under his feet--all the innumerable
snares, in short, of the provincial ant-lion were set for him, and to
|
