| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: divine serenity.
To the noble simplicity which characterized his head, d'Arthez added a
naive expression, the naturalness of a child, and a touching
kindliness. He did not have that politeness tinged with insincerity
with which, in society, the best-bred persons and the most amiable
assume qualities in which they are often lacking, leaving those they
have thus duped wounded and distressed. He might, indeed, fail to
observe certain rules of social life, owing to his isolated mode of
living; but he never shocked the sensibilities, and therefore this
perfume of savagery made the peculiar affability of a man of great
talent the more agreeable; such men know how to leave their
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Voyage to Abyssinia by Father Lobo: immediately suggested to be the Galles, who chiefly beset these
passes of the mountains; we put ourselves on the defensive, and
expected them, whom, upon a more exact examination, we found to be
only a caravan of merchants come as usual to fetch salt.
Chapter VIII
They lose their way, are in continual apprehensions of the Galles.
They come to Duan, and settle in Abyssinia.
About nine the next morning we came to the end of this toilsome and
rugged path, where the way divided into two, yet both led to a well,
the only one that was found in our journey. A Moor with three
others took the shortest, without directing us to follow him; so we
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: Palferine have brought about a rupture between the Marquis and Mme.
Schontz, and they mean to make it up between Arthur and Beatrix."
1839 - 1845.
ADDENDUM
The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.
Bianchon, Horace
Father Goriot
The Atheist's Mass
Cesar Birotteau
The Commission in Lunacy
Lost Illusions
|
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 Case of the Registered Letter by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: G- called at my office in the factory, and informed me bluntly that
John Siders had been found shot dead in his lodgings that morning.
I was naturally shocked, as one would be at such news, in spite of
the fact that I had parted from the man in anger, and that I had no
reason to be particularly fond of him. What shocked me most of all
was the sudden thought that John had taken his own life. It was a
perfectly natural thought when I considered his nervousness, and his
peculiar actions of the evening before. I believe I exclaimed,
'It was a suicide!' almost without realising that I was doing so.
The commissioner looked at me sharply and said that suicide was out
of the question, that it was an evident case of murder. He
|
