| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Phaedrus by Plato: two horses and a charioteer; and one of the horses was good and the other
bad: the division may remain, but I have not yet explained in what the
goodness or badness of either consists, and to that I will now proceed.
The right-hand horse is upright and cleanly made; he has a lofty neck and
an aquiline nose; his colour is white, and his eyes dark; he is a lover of
honour and modesty and temperance, and the follower of true glory; he needs
no touch of the whip, but is guided by word and admonition only. The other
is a crooked lumbering animal, put together anyhow; he has a short thick
neck; he is flat-faced and of a dark colour, with grey eyes and blood-red
complexion (Or with grey and blood-shot eyes.); the mate of insolence and
pride, shag-eared and deaf, hardly yielding to whip and spur. Now when the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Collection of Beatrix Potter by Beatrix Potter: sleep in that bed again without a
spring cleaning of some sort," said
Mr. Tod.
Mr. Tod took a last look at the
badger and softly left the room. He
went out of the house, shutting the
front door. The rabbits heard his
footsteps over the tunnel.
He ran round behind the house,
intending to undo the rope in order
to let fall the pailful of water upon
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Chouans by Honore de Balzac: family already deeply afflicted at the misconduct of this woman; whose
history, by the bye, has already been given on another scene.
The curiosity manifested by the company of men soon became impertinent
and almost hostile. A few harsh words reached Francine's ear, and
after a word said to her mistress the girl retreated into the
embrasure of a window. Marie rose, turned towards the insolent group,
and gave them a look full of dignity and even disdain. Her beauty, the
elegance of her manners, and her pride changed the behavior of her
enemies, and won her the flattering murmur which escaped their lips.
Two or three men, whose outward appearance seemed to denote the habits
of polite society and the gallantry acquired in courts, came towards
The Chouans |
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 Z. Marcas by Honore de Balzac: clattering across the Place de l'Odeon, or the omnibuses toiling past,
sent up their dull rumbling, as if to remind us that Paris was still
close to us.
His family lived at Vitre; his father and mother had fifteen hundred
francs a year in the funds. He had received an education gratis in a
Seminary, but had refused to enter the priesthood. He felt in himself
the fires of immense ambition, and had come to Paris on foot at the
age of twenty, the possessor of two hundred francs. He had studied the
law, working in an attorney's office, where he had risen to be
superior clerk. He had taken his doctor's degree in law, had mastered
the old and modern codes, and could hold his own with the most famous
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