| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Hellenica by Xenophon: resident aliens. So that a party sprang up among them whose creed was,
that life was not worth living on such terms: their endeavour must be
to make their fatherland once more the Corinth of old days--to restore
freedom to their city, purified from the murderer and his pollution
and fairly rooted in good order and legality.[6] It was a design worth
the venture: if they succeeded they would become the saviours of their
country; if not--why, in the effort to grasp the fairest flower of
happiness, they would but overreach, and find instead a glorious
termination to existence.
[6] {eunomia}. See "Pol. Ath." i. 8; Arist. "Pol." iv. 8, 6; iii. 9,
8; v. 7, 4.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Domestic Peace by Honore de Balzac: maintain the place she first held in the front rank; then each of
those treacherous fair ones would have enjoined on the men of her
circle on no account to take out our poor friend, under pain of the
severest punishment. That, my dear fellow, is the way in which those
sweet faces, in appearance so tender and so artless, would have formed
a coalition against the stranger, and that without a word beyond the
question, 'Tell me, dear, do you know that little woman in blue?'--
Look here, Martial, if you care to run the gauntlet of more flattering
glances and inviting questions than you will ever again meet in the
whole of your life, just try to get through the triple rampart which
defends that Queen of Dyle, or Lippe, or Charente. You will see
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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 Adam Bede by George Eliot: be at church on Sunday? Answer me that, you rascal. The anthem
went limping without you. Are you going to disgrace your
schoolmaster in his old age?"
"No, Mr. Massey," said Adam. "Mr. and Mrs. Poyser can tell you
where I was. I was in no bad company."
"She's gone, Adam--gone to Snowfield," said Mr. Poyser, reminded
of Dinah for the first time this evening. "I thought you'd ha'
persuaded her better. Nought 'ud hold her, but she must go
yesterday forenoon. The missis has hardly got over it. I thought
she'd ha' no sperrit for th' harvest supper."
Mrs. Poyser had thought of Dinah several times since Adam had come
Adam Bede |
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 Fanny Herself by Edna Ferber: twenty years of intimate minutiae. In extreme cases we have
been obliged to witness his evolution from swaddling clothes
to dresses, from dresses to shorts (he is so often English),
from shorts to Etons.
The thrill we get for our pains is when, at twenty-five, he
jumps over the traces and marries the young lady we met in
her cradle on page two. The process is known as a
psychological study. A publisher's note on page five
hundred and seventy-three assures us that the author is now
at work on Volume Two, dealing with the hero's adult life.
A third volume will present his pleasing senility. The
Fanny Herself |
