| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Gambara by Honore de Balzac: a chimera; yet a third is thinking that this very evening some hoped-
for joy is to be hers, and rushes by anticipation into the tide of
happiness, its dashing waves breaking against her burning bosom. Music
alone has this power of throwing us back on ourselves; the other arts
give us infinite pleasure. But I am digressing.
"These were my first ideas, vague indeed; for an inventor at the
beginning only catches glimpses of the dawn, as it were. So I kept
these glorious ideas at the bottom of my knapsack, and they gave me
spirit to eat the dry crust I often dipped in the water of a spring. I
worked, I composed airs, and, after playing them on any instrument
that came to hand, I went off again on foot across Italy. Finally, at
Gambara |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: against the sides of the horses and nearly suffocated, took the wiser
course of retreating to their homes.
"Make room for the king's justice!" cried Tristan. "What are you doing
here? Do you want to be hanged too? Go home, my friends, go home; your
dinner is getting burnt. Hey! my good woman, go and darn your
husband's stockings; get back to your needles."
Though such speeches showed that the grand provost was in good humor,
they made the most obstreperous fly as if he were flinging the plague
upon them.
At the moment when the first movement of the crowd took place, Georges
d'Estouteville was stupefied at seeing, at one of the windows of the
|
