| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from War and the Future by H. G. Wells: waggon that goes up full comes back empty, and many wounded were
coming down and prisoners and troops returning to rest. Goritzia
had been taken a week or so before my arrival; the Isonzo had
been crossed and the Austrians driven back across the Carso for
several miles; all the resources of Italy seemed to be crowding
up to make good these gains and gather strength for the next
thrust. The roads under all this traffic remained wonderful;
gangs of men were everywhere repairing the first onset of wear,
and Italy is the most fortunate land in the world for road metal;
her mountains are solid road metal, and in this Venetian plain
you need but to scrape through a yard of soil to find gravel.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from An Old Maid by Honore de Balzac: pay you well? Who and what are you working for now?"
"For myself, of course!" cried du Bousquier, brutally.
"Monster! you'll never be a father!" said Suzanne, giving a tone of
prophetic malediction to the words.
"Come, don't talk nonsense, Suzanne," replied du Bousquier; "I really
think I am still dreaming."
"How much more reality do you want?" cried Suzanne, standing up.
Du Bousquier rubbed his cotton night-cap to the top of his head with a
rotatory motion, which plainly indicated the tremendous fermentation
of his ideas.
"He actually believes it!" thought Suzanne, "and he's flattered.
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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 A Legend of Montrose by Walter Scott: were all cut off, I e'en gave up my commission, and took service
with Wallenstein, in Walter Butler's Irish regiment."
"And may I beg to know of you," said Lord Menteith, apparently
interested in the adventures of this soldier of fortune, "how you
liked this change of masters?"
"Indifferent well," said the Captain--"very indifferent well. I
cannot say that the Emperor paid much better than the great
Gustavus. For hard knocks, we had plenty of them. I was often
obliged to run my head against my old acquaintances, the Swedish
feathers, whilk your honour must conceive to be double-pointed
stakes, shod with iron at each end, and planted before the squad
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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 Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: tears the man of blood had ever wept. `Now,' said the old
man, `aid me to bury my child.' Carlini fetched two
pickaxes; and the father and the lover began to dig at the
foot of a huge oak, beneath which the young girl was to
repose. When the grave was formed, the father kissed her
first, and then the lover; afterwards, one taking the head,
the other the feet, they placed her in the grave. Then they
knelt on each side of the grave, and said the prayers of the
dead. Then, when they had finished, they cast the earth over
the corpse, until the grave was filled. Then, extending his
hand, the old man said; `I thank you, my son; and now leave
The Count of Monte Cristo |
