| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Phaedrus by Plato: be noted in passing; also the general agreement between the tone of this
speech and the remark of Socrates which follows afterwards, 'I am a
diviner, but a poor one.'
The tale of the grasshoppers is naturally suggested by the surrounding
scene. They are also the representatives of the Athenians as children of
the soil. Under the image of the lively chirruping grasshoppers who inform
the Muses in heaven about those who honour them on earth, Plato intends to
represent an Athenian audience (tettigessin eoikotes). The story is
introduced, apparently, to mark a change of subject, and also, like several
other allusions which occur in the course of the Dialogue, in order to
preserve the scene in the recollection of the reader.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The School For Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan: SIR OLIVER. Oh, the profligates! [Aside.]
CHARLES. Come, Moses, you shall be appraiser, if we want one.
Gad's life, little Premium, you don't seem to like the business?
SIR OLIVER. Oh, yes, I do, vastly! Ha! ha! ha! yes, yes, I think
it a rare joke to sell one's family by auction--ha! ha!--[Aside.]
Oh, the prodigal!
CHARLES. To be sure! when a man wants money, where the plague should
he get assistance, if he can't make free with his own relations?
[Exeunt.]
SIR OLIVER. I'll never forgive him; never! never!
END OF THE THIRD ACT
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: from all eyes, at the hermitage, recognized Madame Graslin and
immediately opened the door. Veronique and Gerard entered. The poor
girl could not help a blush as she met the eyes of the young man, who
was greatly surprised at her beauty.
"I hope Madame Farrabesche has not let you want for anything?" said
Veronique.
"Oh no! madame, see!" and she pointed to her breakfast.
"This is Monsieur Gerard, of whom I spoke to you," went on Veronique.
"He is to be my son's guardian, and after my death you shall live
together at the chateau until his majority."
"Oh! madame, do not talk in that way!"
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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 Faraday as a Discoverer by John Tyndall: philosophers of that country, and to the present hour there may be
some of them unable to liberate themselves from the fascination of
their first-love.
After the researches which I have endeavoured to place before you,
it was impossible for Faraday to avoid taking a side in this
controversy. He did so in a paper 'On the Electricity of the
Voltaic Pile,' received by the Royal Society on the 7th of April,
1834. His position in the controversy might have been predicted.
He saw chemical effects going hand in hand with electrical effects,
the one being proportional to the other; and, in the paper now
before us, he proved that when the former was excluded, the latter
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