| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock: my last night's supper; for I had none."
"I am sorry," said Matilda, "you should have gone to bed supperless."
"I did not go to bed supperless," said the baron:
"I did not go to bed at all: and what are you doing with that
green dress and that bow and arrow?"
"I am going a-hunting," said Matilda.
"A-hunting!" said the baron. "What, I warrant you, to meet with the earl,
and slip your neck into the same noose?"
"No," said Matilda: "I am not going out of our own woods to-day."
"How do I know that?" said the baron. "What surety have I of that?"
"Here is the friar," said Matilda. "He will be surety."
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Salome by Oscar Wilde: veux parler.
SALOME. Je suis Salome, fille d'Herodias, princesse de Judee.
IOKANAAN. Arriere! Fille de Babylone! N'approchez pas de l'elu du
Seigneur. Ta mere a rempli la terre du vin de ses iniquites, et le
cri de ses peches est arrive aux oreilles de Dieu.
SALOME. Parle encore, Iokanaan. Ta voix m'enivre.
LE JEUNE SYRIEN. Princesse! Princesse! Princesse!
SALOME. Mais parle encore. Parle encore, Iokanaan, et dis-moi ce
qu'il faut que je fasse.
IOKANAAN. Ne m'approchez pas, fille de Sodome, mais couvrez votre
visage avec un voile, et mettez des cendres sur votre tete, et allez
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tour Through Eastern Counties of England by Daniel Defoe: had hired, he attacked him with a hedge-bill, and cut him, as one
might say, almost in pieces; and when they did not doubt of his
being dead, they left him. His head and face was so mangled, that
it may be said to be next to a miracle that he was not quite
killed: yet so Providence directed for the exemplary punishment of
the assassins, that the gentleman recovered to detect them, who
(though he outlived the assault) were both executed as they
deserved, and Mr. Crisp is yet alive. They were condemned on the
statute for defacing and dismembering, called the Coventry Act.
But this accident does not at all lessen the pleasure and agreeable
delightful show of the town of Bury; it is crowded with nobility
|
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 Marriage Contract by Honore de Balzac: anxiety, was outwardly calm.
The widow owed her daughter one-third of the fortune left by Monsieur
Evangelista,--namely, nearly twelve hundred thousand francs,--and she
knew herself unable to pay it, even by taking the whole of her
property to do so. She would therefore be placed at the mercy of a
son-in-law. Though she might be able to control Paul if left to
himself, would he, when enlightened by his notary, agree to release
her from rendering her account as guardian of her daughter's
patrimony? If Paul withdrew his proposals all Bordeaux would know the
reason and Natalie's future marriage would be made impossible. This
mother, who desired the happiness of her daughter, this woman, who
|
