| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: which prefers the pictures of Rembrandt, the melodies of Chopin,
and the poetry of Heine.
Having thus explained his position by this extreme instance,
signified for the sake of clearness, Taine goes on to apply such
general considerations to four historic epochs, taken in all
their complexity. He discusses the aspect presented by art in
ancient Greece, in the feudal and Catholic Middle Ages, in the
centralized monarchies of the seventeenth century, and in the
scientific, industrial democracy in which we now live. Out of
these we shall select, as perhaps the simplest, the case of
ancient Greece, still following our author closely, though
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Bureaucracy by Honore de Balzac: in the administration by bringing a strong light to bear upon it. He
intended to bring about one of those revolutions which send a man to
the head of either one party or another in society; but being
incapable of so doing in his own interests, he merely pondered useful
thoughts and dreamed of triumphs won for his country by noble means.
His ideas were both generous and ambitious; few officials have not
conceived the like; but among officials as among artists there are
more miscarriages than births; which is tantamount to Buffon's saying
that "Genius is patience."
Placed in a position where he could study French administration and
observe its mechanism, Rabourdin worked in the circle where his
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