| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lesson of the Master by Henry James: mere prolific maternity, as was the custom of scribbling daubing
educated flattered girls in an age of luxury and a society of
leisure. He noted that the water-colours on the walls of the room
she sat in had mainly the quality of being naives, and reflected
that naivete in art is like a zero in a number: its importance
depends on the figure it is united with. Meanwhile, however, he
had fallen in love with her. Before he went away, at any rate, he
said to her: "I thought St. George was coming to see you to-day,
but he doesn't turn up."
For a moment he supposed she was going to cry "Comment donc? Did
you come here only to meet him?" But the next he became aware of
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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 Message by Honore de Balzac: real life are superlatively uninteresting; so that it is one-half
of art to select from realities those which contain possibilities
of poetry.
In 1819 I was traveling from Paris to Moulins. The state of my
finances obliged me to take an outside place. Englishmen, as you
know, regard those airy perches on the top of the coach as the
best seats; and for the first few miles I discovered abundance of
excellent reasons for justifying the opinion of our neighbors. A
young fellow, apparently in somewhat better circumstances, who
came to take the seat beside me from preference, listened to my
reasoning with inoffensive smiles. An approximate nearness of
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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 Massimilla Doni by Honore de Balzac: republic; the Pazzi and the Medici at Florence; the Sforza and the
Visconti at Milan; the Orsini and the Colonna at Rome,--in short,
everywhere and on every occasion there has been the same impulse
Out in the streets there were already /Genovists/ and /Tintists/.
The Prince escorted the Duchess, more depressed than ever by the loves
of Osiride; she feared some similar disaster to her own, and could
only cling to Emilio, as if to keep him next her heart.
"Remember your promise," said Vendramin. "I will wait for you in the
square."
Vendramin took the Frenchman's arm, proposing that they should walk
together on the Piazza San Marco while awaiting the Prince.
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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 Fables by Robert Louis Stevenson: can't change a man's convictions. I know the Author respects me; I
feel it in my bones; when you and I had that talk at the blockhouse
door, who do you think he was for, my man?"
"And don't he respect me?" cried Silver. "Ah, you should 'a' heard
me putting down my mutiny, George Merry and Morgan and that lot, no
longer ago'n last chapter; you'd heard something then! You'd 'a'
seen what the Author thinks o' me! But come now, do you consider
yourself a virtuous chara'ter clean through?"
"God forbid!" said Captain Smollett, solemnly. "I am a man that
tries to do his duty, and makes a mess of it as often as not. I'm
not a very popular man at home, Silver, I'm afraid!" and the
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