| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: the same room, sometimes for hours together. While Mary drew, Diana
pursued a course of encyclopaedic reading she had (to my awe and
amazement) undertaken, and I fagged away at German, he pondered a
mystic lore of his own: that of some Eastern tongue, the
acquisition of which he thought necessary to his plans.
Thus engaged, he appeared, sitting in his own recess, quiet and
absorbed enough; but that blue eye of his had a habit of leaving the
outlandish-looking grammar, and wandering over, and sometimes fixing
upon us, his fellow-students, with a curious intensity of
observation: if caught, it would be instantly withdrawn; yet ever
and anon, it returned searchingly to our table. I wondered what it
Jane Eyre |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Letters of Two Brides by Honore de Balzac: him, he can wear a blouse if he pleases! Don't suppose that I am going
to turn our life into an amorous duel and wear myself out in devices
for feeding passion; all that I want is to have a conscience free from
reproach. Thirteen years still lie before me as a pretty woman, and I
am determined to be loved on the last day of the thirteenth even more
fondly than on the morrow of our mysterious nuptials. This time no
cutting words shall mar my lowly, grateful content. I will take the
part of servant, since that of mistress throve so ill with me before.
Ah! Renee, if Gaston has sounded, as I have, the heights and depths of
love, my happiness is assured! Nature at the chalet wears her fairest
face. The woods are charming; each step opens up to you some fresh
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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 Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin: he would have little occasion to use the faculty of voluntary rejection;
so that this power would tend to be lost through disuse.
[8] Duchenne believes that in the eversion of the lower lip,
the corners are drawn downwards by the _depressores anguli oris_.
Henle (Handbuch d. Anat. des Menschen, 1858, B. i. s. 151) concludes that
this is effected by the _musculus quadratus menti_.
As the sense of smell is so intimately connected with that of taste,
it is not surprising that an excessively bad odour should excite retching
or vomiting in some persons, quite as readily as the thought of revolting
food does; and that, as a further consequence, a moderately offensive
odour should cause the various expressive movements of disgust.
Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals |
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 Little Britain by Washington Irving: in mouth, and tankard in hand, fondling, and prosing, and
singing maudlin songs over their liquor. Even the sober
decorum of private families, which I must say is rigidly kept up
at other times among my neighbors, is no proof against this
Saturnalia. There is no such thing as keeping maid-servants
within doors. Their brains are absolutely set madding with
Punch and the Puppet Show; the Flying Horses; Signior Polito;
the Fire-Eater; the celebrated Mr. Paap; and the Irish Giant.
The children, too, lavish all their holiday money in toys and
gilt
gingerbread, and fill the house with the Lilliputian din of
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