| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: for to visit, and to prescribe to him. Upon this intelligence I
sent thrice every day one servant or other to enquire after his
health; and yesterday, about four in the afternoon, word was
brought me that he was past hopes: Upon which, I prevailed with
myself to go and see him, partly out of commiseration, and I
confess, partly out of curiosity. He knew me very well, seem'd
surpriz'd at my condescension, and made me compliments upon it as
well as he could, in the condition he was. The people about him
said, he had been for some time delirious; but when I saw him, he
had his understanding as well as ever I knew, and spake strong
and hearty, without any seeming uneasiness or constraint. After I
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Ferragus by Honore de Balzac: forty thousand francs since the beginning of the year?"
"More," she said,--"forty-seven."
"Have you spent them?"
"Nearly," she replied. "In the first place, I had to pay several of
our last year's bills--"
"I shall never find out anything in this way," thought Jules. "I am
not taking the best course."
At this moment Jules' own valet entered the room with a letter for his
master, who opened it indifferently, but as soon as his eyes had
lighted on the signature he read it eagerly. The letter was as
follows:--
Ferragus |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from United States Declaration of Independence: a plethora of variations in capitalization, punctuation, and, even
where names appear on the documents [which names I have left out].
The resulting document has several misspellings removed from those
parchment "facsimiles" I used back in 1971, and which I should not
be able to easily find at this time, including "Brittain."
**The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Declaration of Independence**
#STARTMARK#
The Declaration of Independence of The United States of America
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for
one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected
them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the earth,
United States Declaration of Independence |
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 Moral Emblems by Robert Louis Stevenson: Alone above the stream it stands,
Above the iron hill,
The topsy-turvy, tumble-down,
Yet habitable mill.
Still as the ringing saws advance
To slice the humming deal,
All day the pallid miller hears
The thunder of the wheel.
He hears the river plunge and roar
As roars the angry mob;
He feels the solid building quake,
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