The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: looks of deep meaning.
"There, you see, wife," said the former, "this splendid
diamond might all be ours, if we chose!"
"Do you believe it?"
"Why, surely a man of his holy profession would not deceive
us!"
"Well," replied La Carconte, "do as you like. For my part, I
wash my hands of the affair." So saying, she once more
climbed the staircase leading to her chamber, her body
convulsed with chills, and her teeth rattling in her head,
in spite of the intense heat of the weather. Arrived at the
The Count of Monte Cristo |
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 Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: more happy as out minds take a wider range.
"In enumerating the particular comforts of life, we shall find many
advantages on the side of the Europeans. They cure wounds and
diseases with which we languish and perish. We suffer inclemencies
of weather which they can obviate. They have engines for the
despatch of many laborious works, which we must perform by manual
industry. There is such communication between distant places that
one friend can hardly be said to be absent from another. Their
policy removes all public inconveniences; they have roads cut
through the mountains, and bridges laid over their rivers. And, if
we descend to the privacies of life, their habitations are more
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