| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Muse of the Department by Honore de Balzac: Madame de la Baudraye could smile to see Lousteau with one article on
the Legitimist side and one on the side of the new dynasty, both on
the same occasion. She admired the maxim he preached:
"We are the attorneys of public opinion."
The other kind of criticism is a science. It necessitates a thorough
comprehension of each work, a lucid insight into the tendencies of the
age, the adoption of a system, and faith in fixed principles--that is
to say, a scheme of jurisprudence, a summing-up, and a verdict. The
critic is then a magistrate of ideas, the censor of his time; he
fulfils a sacred function; while in the former case he is but an
acrobat who turns somersaults for a living so long as he had a leg to
The Muse of the Department |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Black Beauty by Anna Sewell: "He's ill in bed," said the man; "he was taken last night in the yard,
and could scarcely crawl home. His wife sent a boy this morning
to say his father was in a high fever and could not get out,
so I'm here instead."
The next morning the same man came again.
"How is Sam?" inquired the governor.
"He's gone," said the man.
"What, gone? You don't mean to say he's dead?"
"Just snuffed out," said the other; "he died at four o'clock this morning;
all yesterday he was raving -- raving about Skinner, and having no Sundays.
`I never had a Sunday's rest,' these were his last words."
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