| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare: Doth adde more griefe, to too much of mine owne.
Loue, is a smoake made with the fume of sighes,
Being purg'd, a fire sparkling in Louers eyes,
Being vext, a Sea nourisht with louing teares,
What is it else? a madnesse, most discreet,
A choking gall, and a preseruing sweet:
Farewell my Coze
Ben. Soft I will goe along.
And if you leaue me so, you do me wrong
Rom. Tut I haue lost my selfe, I am not here,
This is not Romeo, hee's some other where
Romeo and Juliet |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Koran: Who is there that will lend to God a good loan? He will redouble
it many a double; God closes His hand and holds it out, and unto Him
shall ye return.
Dost thou not look at the crowd of the children of Israel after
Moses' time, when they said to a prophet of theirs, 'Raise up for us a
king, and we will fight in God's way?' He said, 'Will ye perhaps, if
it be written down for you to fight, refuse to fight?' They said, 'And
why should we not fight in God's way, now that we are dispossessed
of our homes and sons? But when it was written down for them to
fight they turned back, save a few of them, and God knows who are
evildoers. Then their prophet said to them, 'Verily, God has raised up
The Koran |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard: Shall the Teule be slain?'
Then Guatemoc rose and spoke, saying: 'Your pardon, noble kinsman,
but I hold that we may put this prisoner to better use than to kill
him. I know him well; he is brave and loyal, as I have proved,
moreover, he is not all a Teule, but half of another race that
hates them as he hates them. Also he has knowledge of their
customs and mode of warfare, which we lack, and I think that he may
be able to give us good counsel in our strait.'
'The counsel of the wolf to the deer perhaps,' said Cuitlahua,
coldly; 'counsel that shall lead us to the fangs of the Teules.
Who shall answer for this foreign devil, that he will not betray us
Montezuma's Daughter |
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 Adieu by Honore de Balzac: vapors which dance and dart above the herbage like silvery dust; but
Genevieve seemed not to feel this all-consuming heat.
The colonel pressed the hand of the doctor violently in his own. Tears
rolled from his eyes along his manly cheeks, and fell to the earth at
the feet of his Stephanie.
"Monsieur," said the uncle, "for two years past, my heart is broken
day by day. Soon you will be like me. You may not always weep, but you
will always feel your sorrow."
The two men understood each other; and again, pressing each other's
hands, they remained motionless, contemplating the exquisite calmness
which sleep had cast upon that graceful creature. From time to time
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