| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lesser Bourgeoisie by Honore de Balzac: attending to one's own business,' and many other bourgeois maxims
which have suppressed the role of intermediaries. Why shouldn't
Mademoiselle Brigitte Thuillier manage her own house when dukes and
peers go in person to the Bourse, where such men sign their own leases
and read the deeds before they sign them, and go themselves to the
notary, whom, in former days, they considered a servant."
During this time Cerizet had time to recover from the blow he had just
received squarely in the face, and to think of the transition he had
to make from one set of interests to the other, of which he was now
the agent.
"What you are declaiming there is all very clever," he said,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Poems by Oscar Wilde: As thou thyself, my soul's idolatry!
And when thou art a-wearied at thy feet
Shall oxlips weave their brightest tapestry,
For thee the woodbine shall forget its pride
And veil its tangled whorls, and thou shalt walk on daisies pied.
And I will cut a reed by yonder spring
And make the wood-gods jealous, and old Pan
Wonder what young intruder dares to sing
In these still haunts, where never foot of man
Should tread at evening, lest he chance to spy
The marble limbs of Artemis and all her company.
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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 Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence: He broke off, pale in the face.
'And what is the man at Stacks Gate like?' asked Connie.
'A big baby sort of fellow, very low-mouthed. She bullies him, and they
both drink.'
'My word, if she came back!'
'My God, yes! I should just go, disappear again.'
There was a silence. The pasteboard in the fire had turned to grey ash.
'So when you did get a woman who wanted you,' said Connie, 'you got a
bit too much of a good thing.'
'Ay! Seems so! Yet even then I'd rather have her than the never-never
ones: the white love of my youth, and that other poison-smelling lily,
Lady Chatterley's Lover |
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 At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: concerns. I have sent you to travel in our goods. In short, I have
nothing on my conscience as regards you. But you--you have a soft
place, and you have never breathed a word of it." Joseph Lebas
blushed. "Ah, ha!" cried Guillaume, "so you thought you could deceive
an old fox like me? When you knew that I had scented the Lecocq
bankruptcy?"
"What, monsieur?" replied Joseph Lebas, looking at his master as
keenly as his master looked at him, "you knew that I was in love?"
"I know everything, you rascal," said the worthy and cunning old
merchant, pulling the assistant's ear. "And I forgive you--I did the
same myself."
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