| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: honor of the Cat and Racket. At breakfast she observed certain changes
in the management of the house which did honor to Lebas' good sense;
the assistants did not rise before dessert; they were allowed to talk,
and the abundant meal spoke of ease without luxury. The fashionable
woman found some tickets for a box at the Francais, where she
remembered having seen her sister from time to time. Madame Lebas had
a cashmere shawl over her shoulders, of which the value bore witness
to her husband's generosity to her. In short, the couple were keeping
pace with the times. During the two-thirds of the day she spent there,
Augustine was touched to the heart by the equable happiness, devoid,
to be sure, of all emotion, but equally free from storms, enjoyed by
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Message by Honore de Balzac: that they have left me no time to distil all the least actions of
daily life, and to do everything so that it falls in with those
rules of etiquette and good taste which wither the most generous
emotions.
"M. le Comte," I said with an air of mystery, "I should like a
few words with you," and I fell back a pace or two.
He followed my example. Juliette left us together, going away
unconcernedly, like a wife who knew that she can learn her
husband's secrets as soon as she chooses to know them.
I told the Count briefly of the death of my traveling companion.
The effect produced by my news convinced me that his affection
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Recruit by Honore de Balzac: at once, and put him in your interests."
After talking with the mayor, the shrewd old man made visits on
various pretexts to the principal families of Carentan, to all of whom
he mentioned that Madame de Dey, in spite of her illness, would
receive her friends that evening. Matching his own craft against those
wily Norman minds, he replied to the questions put to him on the
nature of Madame de Dey's illness in a manner that hoodwinked the
community. He related to a gouty old dame, that Madame de Dey had
almost died of a sudden attack of gout in the stomach, but had been
relieved by a remedy which the famous doctor, Tronchin, had once
recommended to her,--namely, to apply the skin of a freshly-flayed
|
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 Chronicles of the Canongate by Walter Scott: "To be peaten like a dog," said Robin; "is there any reason in
that? If you think I have done you wrong, I'll go before your
shudge, though I neither know his law nor his language."
A general cry of "No, no--no law, no lawyer! a bellyful and be
friends," was echoed by the bystanders.
"But," continued Robin, "if I am to fight, I have no skill to
fight like a jackanapes, with hands and nails."
"How would you fight then?" said his antagonist; "though I am
thinking it would be hard to bring you to the scratch anyhow."
"I would fight with proadswords, and sink point on the first
plood drawn--like a gentlemans."
|
