| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Man of Business by Honore de Balzac: Hortense's furniture (Hortense was her name) for four thousand
francs.'
" 'A pretty name,' said Antonia.
" Yes. Napoleon's stepdaughter was called Hortense. I built carriages
for her, as you know.'
" 'Very well, I will see,' said cunning Antonia; 'begin by sending
this young woman to me.'
"Antonia hurried off to see the furniture, and came back fascinated.
She brought Maxime under the spell of antiquarian enthusiasm. That
very evening the Count agreed to the sale of the reading-room. The
establishment, you see, nominally belonged to Mlle. Chocardelle.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: Not only was history subordinated to dogma by the writers of the
gospel-narratives, but in the minds of the Fathers of the Church
who assisted in determining what writings should be considered
canonical, dogmatic prepossession went very much further than
critical acumen. Nor is this strange when we reflect that
critical discrimination in questions of literary authenticity is
one of the latest acquisitions of the cultivated human mind. In
the early ages of the Church the evidence of the genuineness of
any literary production was never weighed critically; writings
containing doctrines acceptable to the majority of Christians
were quoted as authoritative while writings which supplied no
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
