| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Egmont by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: that at once summons the provinces to arms, that justifies every cruelty for
which Spain has hitherto so anxiously sought a pretext. With a single nod
you will excite to the direst confusion what, with patient effort, we have so
long kept in abeyance. Think of the towns, the nobles, the people; think of
commerce, agriculture, trade! Realize the murder, the desolation! Calmly
the soldier beholds his comrade fall beside him in the battlefield. But
towards you, carried downwards by the stream, shall float the corpses of
citizens, of children, of maidens, till, aghast with horror, you shall no
longer know whose cause you are defending, since you shall see those, for
whose liberty you drew the sword, perishing around you. And what will be
your emotions when conscience whispers, "It was for my own safety that I
Egmont |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Purse by Honore de Balzac: proprietor would never allow----"
The coach having come, Hippolyte heard no more, and went home.
His mother, to whom he related his adventure, dressed his wound
afresh, and would not allow him to go to the studio next day.
After taking advice, various treatments were prescribed, and
Hippolyte remained at home three days. During this retirement his
idle fancy recalled vividly, bit by bit, the details of the scene
that had ensued on his fainting fit. The young girl's profile was
clearly projected against the darkness of his inward vision; he
saw once more the mother's faded features, or he felt the touch
of Adelaide's hands. He remembered some gesture which at first
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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 Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain: king by the grace of God over all the fruits of the earth.
When one has tasted it, he knows what the angels eat. It was not a
Southern watermelon that Eve took: we know it because she repented.
--Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar
About the time that Wilson was bowing the committee out,
Pembroke Howard was entering the next house to report.
He found the old judge sitting grim and straight in his chair, waiting.
"Well, Howard--the news?"
"The best in the world."
"Accepts, does he?" and the light of battle gleamed joyously
in the Judge's eye.
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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 Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas: "I say, my dear D'Herblay, that it is almost sacrilege to
distrust Providence when one has such friends, and therefore
we will divide the pistoles from Porthos, as we divided the
louis sent by D'Artagnan."
The division being made by the light of Bazin's taper, the
two friends continued their road and a quarter of an hour
later they had joined De Winter at the Porte Saint Denis.
43
In which it is proved that first Impulses are oftentimes the
best.
The three gentlemen took the road to Picardy, a road so well
Twenty Years After |
