| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Fables by Robert Louis Stevenson: and he turned it on the hills, and the hills were cold and rugged,
but life ran in their sides so that his own life bounded; and he
turned it on the dust, and he beheld the dust with joy and terror;
and he turned it on himself, and kneeled down and prayed.
"Now, thanks be to God," said the elder son, "I have found the
touchstone; and now I may turn my reins, and ride home to the King
and to the maid of the dun that makes my mouth to sing and my heart
enlarge."
Now when he came to the dun, he saw children playing by the gate
where the King had met him in the old days; and this stayed his
pleasure, for he thought in his heart, "It is here my children
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Gambara by Honore de Balzac: very house where he had seen her go in.
"Am I bewitched by vice, then?" he asked himself in dismay. "Nay, I
have not yet reached that point. I am but three-and-twenty, and there
is nothing of the senile fop about me."
The very vehemence of the whim that held possession of him to some
extent reassured him. This strange struggle, these reflections, and
this love in pursuit may perhaps puzzle some persons who are
accustomed to the ways of Paris life; but they may be reminded that
Count Andrea Marcosini was not a Frenchman.
Brought up by two abbes, who, in obedience to a very pious father, had
rarely let him out of their sight, Andrea had not fallen in love with
Gambara |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Pierre Grassou by Honore de Balzac: criticise the rejected work. The great painter left everything and
went at once. When poor Fougeres had placed the work before him
Schinner, after a glance, pressed Fougeres' hand.
"You are a fine fellow," he said; "you've a heart of gold, and I must
not deceive you. Listen; you are fulfilling all the promises you made
in the studios. When you find such things as that at the tip of your
brush, my good Fougeres, you had better leave colors with Brullon, and
not take the canvas of others. Go home early, put on your cotton
night-cap, and be in bed by nine o'clock. The next morning early go to
some government office, ask for a place, and give up art."
"My dear friend," said Fougeres, "my picture is already condemned; it
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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 A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe: them. From the whole, it may be observed that they were obliged in
this time of distress to take in new burying-grounds in most of the out-
parishes for laying the prodigious numbers of people which died in so
short a space of time; but why care was not taken to keep those places
separate from ordinary uses, that so the bodies might rest undisturbed,
that I cannot answer for, and must confess I think it was wrong. Who
were to blame I know not.
I should have mentioned that the Quakers had at that time also a
burying-ground set apart to their use, and which they still make use of;
and they had also a particular dead-cart to fetch their dead from their
houses; and the famous Solomon Eagle, who, as I mentioned before,
A Journal of the Plague Year |
