| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Collection of Antiquities by Honore de Balzac: that smiled upon him, among sober servants attached to the family, and
surroundings tinged with a general color of age, the boy had only seen
friends worthy of respect. All of those about him, with the exception
of the Chevalier, had example of venerable age, were elderly men and
women, sedate of manner, decorous and sententious of speech. He had
been petted by those women in gray gowns and embroidered mittens
described by Blondet. The antiquated splendors of his father's house
were as little calculated as possible to suggest frivolous thoughts;
and lastly, he had been educated by a sincerely religious abbe,
possessed of all the charm of old age, which has dwelt in two
centuries, and brings to the Present its gifts of the dried roses of
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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 Ivanhoe by Walter Scott: ``I know it not,'' said Isaac; ``our last letters
from our brethren at Paris advised us that he was
at that city, beseeching Philip for aid against the
Sultan Saladine.''
``He hath since come to England, unexpected
by his brethren,'' said Ben Israel; ``and he cometh
among them with a strong and outstretched arm to
correct and to punish. His countenance is kindled
in anger against those who have departed from the
vow which they have made, and great is the fear
of those sons of Belial. Thou must have heard of
Ivanhoe |
