| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Ivanhoe by Walter Scott: retired to its further extremity, and sat down on a
small bench against the wall, where they remained
mute as statues, though at such a distance that
their whispers could not have interrupted the conversation
of their mistress.
``Pilgrim,'' said the lady, after a moment's pause,
during which she seemed uncertain how to address
him, ``you this night mentioned a name---I mean,''
she said, with a degree of effort, ``the name of
Ivanhoe, in the halls where by nature and kindred
it should have sounded most acceptably; and yet,
Ivanhoe |
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 The Two Brothers by Honore de Balzac: Duplay would have saved Descoings.
This little mishap proves that in revolutionary times it is quite as
dangerous to employ honest men as scoundrels; we should rely on
ourselves alone. Descoings perished; but he had the glory of going to
the scaffold with Andre Chenier. There, no doubt, grocery and poetry
embraced for the first time in the flesh; although they have, and ever
have had, intimate secret relations. The death of Descoings produced
far more sensation than that of Andre Chenier. It has taken thirty
years to prove to France that she lost more by the death of Chenier
than by that of Descoings.
This act of Robespierre led to one good result: the terrified grocers
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