| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte by Karl Marx: Bonaparte, on the other, the Mountain seemed on May 29,1849, to have
before it all the elements of success. A fortnight later, it had lost
everything, its honor included.
Before we follow this parliamentary history any further, a few
observations are necessary, in order to avoid certain common deceptions
concerning the whole character of the epoch that lies before us.
According to the view of the democrats, the issue, during the period of
the legislative National Assembly, was, the same as during the period of
the constitutive assembly, simply the struggle between republicans and
royalists; the movement itself was summed up by them in the catch-word
Reaction--night, in which all cats are grey, and allows them to drawl
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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 Rape of Lucrece by William Shakespeare: Lust-breathed Tarquin leaves the Roman host,
And to Collatium bears the lightless fire
Which, in pale embers hid, lurks to aspire
And girdle with embracing flames the waist
Of Collatine's fair love, Lucrece the chaste.
Haply that name of chaste unhapp'ly set
This bateless edge on his keen appetite;
When Collatine unwisely did not let
To praise the clear unmatched red and white
Which triumph'd in that sky of his delight,
Where mortal stars, as bright as heaven's beauties,
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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 Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin by Robert Louis Stevenson: he would write stories and poems. 'I have written,' he says at
thirteen, 'a very long story in heroic measure, 300 lines, and
another Scotch story and innumerable bits of poetry'; and at the
same age he had not only a keen feeling for scenery, but could do
something with his pen to call it up. I feel I do always less than
justice to the delightful memory of Captain Jenkin; but with a lad
of this character, cutting the teeth of his intelligence, he was
sure to fall into the background.
The family removed in 1847 to Paris, where Fleeming was put to
school under one Deluc. There he learned French, and (if the
captain is right) first began to show a taste for mathematics. But
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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 Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Bronte Sisters: the table: 'or will you be more quiet if I go and send the nurse?'
'Oh, yes, you're wondrous gentle and obliging! But you've driven
me mad with it all!' responded he, with an impatient toss.
'I'll leave you, then,' said I; and I withdrew, and did not trouble
him with my presence again that day, except for a minute or two at
a time, just to see how he was and what he wanted.
Next morning the doctor ordered him to be bled; and after that he
was more subdued and tranquil. I passed half the day in his room
at different intervals. My presence did not appear to agitate or
irritate him as before, and he accepted my services quietly,
without any bitter remarks: indeed, he scarcely spoke at all,
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall |
