| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Hidden Masterpiece by Honore de Balzac: but, to our sorrow, there are effects in nature which become false or
impossible when placed on canvas."
"The mission of art is not to copy nature, but to represent it. You
are not an abject copyist, but a poet," cried the old man, hastily
interrupting Porbus with a despotic gesture. "If it were not so, a
sculptor could reach the height of his art by merely moulding a woman.
Try to mould the hand of your mistress, and see what you will get,--
ghastly articulations, without the slightest resemblance to her living
hand; you must have recourse to the chisel of a man who, without
servilely copying that hand, can give it movement and life. It is our
mission to seize the mind, soul, countenance of things and beings.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Lesser Bourgeoisie by Honore de Balzac: a higher duty on the introduction of foreign leathers. You understand
that outside of the tannery circle, this interest was not very
exciting to the general reader."
"I should have thought, however," persisted la Peyrade, "that a
newspaper, however circumscribed its action, would be a lever which
depended for its force on the number of its subscribers."
"Not for journals which aim for a single definite thing," replied
Lousteau, dogmatically. "In that case, subscribers are, on the
contrary, an embarrassment, for you have to please and amuse them, and
in so doing, the real object has to be neglected. A newspaper which
has a definite and circumscribed object ought to be like the stroke of
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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 Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: let not them that hate me triumph over me. Leave me not to be
destroyed in iniquities, and to dishonour my body which I swore
to present unto thee chaste. For for thee I yearn; thee I
worship, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, now and for
evermore, and world without end." When he had added the Amen, he
felt heavenly comfort stealing over him from above, and the evil
thoughts withdrew, and he continued in prayer until early morn.
Being ware of the devices of the crafty foe, he began more and
more to afflict his body by abstinence from meat and drink, and
by other severities, standing in prayer all the night long, and
reminding himself of his covenants made with God, and picturing
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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 The Lock and Key Library by Julian Hawthorne, Ed.: rock behind; as the rush of a flood through the mists of some Alp
crowned with lightnings.
Roused from my stun at the first sight of a danger not foreseen by
the mind I had steeled against far rarer portents of Nature, I
cared no more for the lamps and the circle. Hurrying hack to
Ayesha I exclaimed: "The phantoms have gone from the spaces in
front; but what incantation or spell can arrest the red march of
the foe speeding on in the rear! While we gazed on the caldron of
life, behind us, unheeded, behold the Destroyer!"
Ayesha looked and made no reply, but, as by involuntary instinct,
bowed her majestic head, then rearing it erect, placed herself yet
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