| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Girl with the Golden Eyes by Honore de Balzac: light under the arch, opened the door, put Henri into the carriage,
and set him down on the Boulevard des Italiens with marvelous
rapidity. It was as though the horses had hell-fire in their veins.
The scene was like a dream to De Marsay, but one of those dreams
which, even when they fade away, leave a feeling of supernatural
voluptuousness, which a man runs after for the remainder of his life.
A single kiss had been enough. Never had /rendezvous/ been spent in a
manner more decorous or chaste, or, perhaps, more coldly, in a spot of
which the surroundings were more gruesome, in presence of a more
hideous divinity; for the mother had remained in Henri's imagination
like some infernal, cowering thing, cadaverous, monstrous, savagely
The Girl with the Golden Eyes |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: been disgusted with the stubbornness of its intended tool, and
Brandeis often impatient of the demands of his creators.
But I may seem to exaggerate the degree of white opposition. And
it is true that before fate overtook the Brandeis government, it
appeared to enjoy the fruits of victory in Apia; and one dissident,
the unconquerable Moors, stood out alone to refuse his taxes. But
the victory was in appearance only; the opposition was latent; it
found vent in talk, and thus reacted on the natives; upon the least
excuse, it was ready to flame forth again. And this is the more
singular because some were far from out of sympathy with the native
policy pursued. When I met Captain Brandeis, he was amazed at my
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Second Home by Honore de Balzac: turning round, found himself face to face with the Judge, to whom he
bowed. As the footman let down the steps of his carriage, the old
gentleman, who had served the Convention, suspected the junior's
dilemma.
"All cats are gray in the dark," said he good-humoredly. "The Chief
Justice cannot compromise himself by putting a pleader in the right
way! Especially," he went on, "when the pleader is the nephew of an
old colleague, one of the lights of the grand Council of State which
gave France the Napoleonic Code."
At a gesture from the chief magistrate of France under the Empire, the
foot-passenger got into the carriage.
|
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 'Twixt Land & Sea by Joseph Conrad: sea - had been in the trade as a boy, he said. He meant to make my
loss as small as possible. What between his devotion - it must
have been devotion - and his vanity, I positively dared not give
him the order to throw my commercial-venture overboard. I believe
he would have refused point blank to obey my lawful command. An
unprecedented and comical situation would have been created with
which I did not feel equal to deal.
I welcomed the coming of bad weather as no sailor had ever done.
When at last I hove the ship to, to pick up the pilot outside Port
Philip Heads, the after-hatch had not been opened for more than a
week and I might have believed that no such thing as a potato had
'Twixt Land & Sea |
