| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Salome by Oscar Wilde: PREMIER SOLDAT. Quel vacarme! Qui sont ces betes fauves qui
hurlent?
SECOND SOLDAT. Les Juifs. Ils sont toujours ainsi. C'est sur leur
religion qu'ils discutent.
PREMIER SOLDAT. Pourquoi discutent-ils sur leur religion?
SECOND SOLDAT. Je ne sais pas. Ils le font toujours . . . Ainsi
les Pharisiens affirment qu'il y a des anges, et les Sadduceens
disent que les anges n'existent pas.
PREMIER SOLDAT. Je trouve que c'est ridicule de discuter sur de
telles choses.
LE JEUNE SYRIEN. Comme la princesse Salome est belle ce soir!
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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 Two Brothers by Honore de Balzac: tears, at one of the windows of the salon beside her husband.
"Courage, my child. God sends us our afflictions," said the old lady.
"Joseph is accused--"
"Of what?"
"Of a bad action which he could never have committed," answered Madame
Hochon.
Hearing the words, and seeing the lieutenant of gendarmes, who at this
moment entered the room accompanied by the two gentlemen, Agathe
fainted away.
"There now!" said Monsieur Hochon to his wife and Gritte, "carry off
Madame Bridau; women are only in the way at these times. Take her to
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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 Heroes by Charles Kingsley: watched him standing on his cliff above the sea, with his
great hands raised toward heaven, and his white locks waving
in the wind; and they strained their eyes to watch him to the
last, for they felt that they should look on him no more.
So they rowed on over the long swell of the sea, past
Olympus, the seat of the Immortals, and past the wooded bays
of Athos, and Samothrace the sacred isle; and they came past
Lemnos to the Hellespont, and through the narrow strait of
Abydos, and so on into the Propontis, which we call Marmora
now. And there they met with Cyzicus, ruling in Asia over
the Dolions, who, the songs say, was the son of AEneas, of
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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 Enemies of Books by William Blades: the blood-stained chamber, side by side with her peccant predecessors.
Why need the women-folk (God forgive me!) bother themselves about
the inside of a man's library, and whether it wants dusting or not?
My boys' playroom, in which is a carpenter's bench, a lathe,
and no end of litter, is never tidied--perhaps it can't be,
or perhaps their youthful vigour won't stand it--but my workroom
must needs be dusted daily, with the delusive promise that
each book and paper shall be replaced exactly where it was.
The damage done by such continued treatment is incalculable.
At certain times these observances are kept more religiously
than others; but especially should the book-lover, married
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