| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Louis Lambert by Honore de Balzac: books, most of them worthy of credit, served no doubt to wrap parcels
in; and this work, which was curious, to say the least of it, as the
outcome of a most extraordinary memory, was doomed to destruction.
Among the various cases which added to the value of Lambert's
/Treatise/ was an incident that had taken place in his own family, of
which he had told me before he wrote his essay. This fact, bearing on
the post-existence of the inner man, if I may be allowed to coin a new
word for a phenomenon hitherto nameless, struck me so forcibly that I
have never forgotten it. His father and mother were being forced into
a lawsuit, of which the loss would leave them with a stain on their
good name, the only thing they had in the world. Hence their anxiety
Louis Lambert |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Jerusalem Delivered by Torquato Tasso: Now open war, now ambush closely laid;
Yet passed we forth, all perils left behind,
Our foes or dead or run away afraid,
Of victory so happy blew the wind,
That careless all the heedless to it made:
Until one day his tents he happed to rear,
To Palestine when we approached near.
XIV
"There did our scouts return and bring us news,
That dreadful noise of horse and arms they hear,
And that they deemed by sundry signs and shows
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Michael Strogoff by Jules Verne: overshadow the sovereign's brow."
"To me, it seemed radiant," replied Harry Blount, who
perhaps, wished to conceal his real opinion on this topic.
"And, naturally, you made it 'radiant,' in the columns
of the Daily Telegraph."
"Exactly."
"Do you remember, Mr. Blount, what occurred at Zakret
in 1812?"
"I remember it as well as if I had been there, sir,"
replied the English correspondent.
"Then," continued Alcide Jolivet, "you know that, in
|
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 Hiero by Xenophon: people say is true." {agleukesteron}, said ap. Suid. to be a
Sicilian word = "more sourly."
Well (Hiero continued), and all these wonderfully-made dishes which
are set before the tyrant, or nine-tenths of them, perhaps you have
observed, are combinations of things acid to the taste, or pungent, or
astringent, or akin to these?[28]
[28] Lit. "and their congeners," "their analogues," e.g. "curries,
pickles, bitters, peppery condiments."
To be sure they are (he answered), unnatural viands, one and all, in
my opinion, most alien to ordinary palates.[29]
[29] Or, "unsuited to man's taste," "'caviare to the general' I name
|
