| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe: representation to my Lord Mayor of the condition of the poor, it was
estimated that there were no less than an hundred thousand riband-
weavers in and about the city, the chiefest number of whom lived then
in the parishes of Shoreditch, Stepney, Whitechappel, and Bishopsgate,
that, namely, about Spitalfields; that is to say, as Spitalfields was then,
for it was not so large as now by one fifth part.
By this, however, the number of people in the whole may be judged
of; and, indeed, I often wondered that, after the prodigious numbers of
people that went away at first, there was yet so great a multitude left
as it appeared there was.
But I must go back again to the beginning of this surprising time.
A Journal of the Plague Year |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The New Machiavelli by H. G. Wells: Modern conditions and modern ideas, and in particular the intenser
and subtler perceptions of modern life, press more and more heavily
upon a marriage tie whose fashion comes from an earlier and less
discriminating time. When the wife was her husband's subordinate,
meeting him simply and uncritically for simple ends, when marriage
was a purely domestic relationship, leaving thought and the vivid
things of life almost entirely to the unencumbered man, mental and
temperamental incompatibilities mattered comparatively little. But
now the wife, and particularly the loving childless wife,
unpremeditatedly makes a relentless demand for a complete
association, and the husband exacts unthought of delicacies of
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Drama on the Seashore by Honore de Balzac: me of those three lives, that Pauline said at last,--
"Louis, write it all down; that will change the nature of the fever
within you."
So I have written you this narrative, dear uncle; but the shock of
such an event has made me lose the calmness I was beginning to gain
from sea-bathing and our stay in this place.
ADDENDUM
The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.
Note: A Drama on the Seashore is also known as A Seaside Tragedy and
is referred to by that title in other addendums.
Cambremer, Pierre
|
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 Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas: that glance belongs to genius.
Then, when all were placed, he chose as his headquarters the
ante-chamber, in which he found a large fauteuil, a lamp,
some wine, some water: and some dry bread.
He refreshed his lamp, drank half a glass of wine, curled
his lip with a smile full of expression, installed himself
in his large armchair, and made preparations for sleeping.
CHAPTER 9
In which the Unknown of the Hostelry
of Les Medici loses his Incognito.
This officer, who was sleeping, or preparing to sleep, was,
Ten Years Later |
