| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Facino Cane by Honore de Balzac: his face burned hot within my soul.
The fiddle and the flageolet took a deep interest in bottles and
glasses; at the end of a country-dance, they hung their instruments
from a button on their reddish-colored coats, and stretched out their
hands to a little table set in the window recess to hold their liquor
supply. Each time they did so they held out a full glass to the
Italian, who could not reach it for himself because he sat in front of
the table, and each time the Italian thanked them with a friendly nod.
All their movements were made with the precision which always amazes
you so much at the Blind Asylum. You could almost think that they can
see. I came nearer to listen; but when I stood beside them, they
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: God help thee, Jack! said I, thou hast a bitter breakfast on't--and many a
bitter day's labour,--and many a bitter blow, I fear, for its wages--'tis
all--all bitterness to thee, whatever life is to others.--And now thy
mouth, if one knew the truth of it, is as bitter, I dare say, as soot--(for
he had cast aside the stem) and thou hast not a friend perhaps in all this
world, that will give thee a macaroon.--In saying this, I pull'd out a
paper of 'em, which I had just purchased, and gave him one--and at this
moment that I am telling it, my heart smites me, that there was more of
pleasantry in the conceit, of seeing how an ass would eat a macaroon--than
of benevolence in giving him one, which presided in the act.
When the ass had eaten his macaroon, I press'd him to come in--the poor
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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 The Time Machine by H. G. Wells: human flesh is no deep-seated instinct. And so these inhuman
sons of men----! I tried to look at the thing in a scientific
spirit. After all, they were less human and more remote than our
cannibal ancestors of three or four thousand years ago. And the
intelligence that would have made this state of things a torment
had gone. Why should I trouble myself? These Eloi were mere
fatted cattle, which the ant-like Morlocks preserved and preyed
upon--probably saw to the breeding of. And there was Weena
dancing at my side!
`Then I tried to preserve myself from the horror that was
coming upon me, by regarding it as a rigorous punishment of human
The Time Machine |
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 Case of the Registered Letter by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: evening, the 23rd of September.
Albert Graumann will come to me, unknown to his family or friends,
as I have asked him to come. I will so arrange it that the old
servant will see him come in but will not see him go out. My
landlady will not be in my way, for she has already told me that
she will spend the night of the 23rd with her mother, in another
part of the city. It is to be a birthday celebration I believe,
so that I can be certain her plans will not be changed.
Graumann and I will be alone, therefore, with no reliable witnesses
near. I will keep him there for a little while with commonplace
conversation, for I have nothing to say to him. If he moves near
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