| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lesser Bourgeoisie by Honore de Balzac: for safety and for the power to rebuild their future; I, who am the
manager of a great theatre of puppets (where I have Columbines in the
style of Madame de Godollo); I, who to-morrow, if it were necessary to
the success of one of my vaudevilles or one of my dramas, might
present myself to your eyes as the wearer of the grand cordon of the
Legion of honor, of the Order of the Black Eagle, or that of the
Golden Fleece. Do you wish to know why neither you nor I will die a
violent death like your uncle, and also why, more fortunate than
contemporaneous kings, I can transmit my sceptre to the successor whom
I myself may choose? Because, like you, my young friend, in spite of
your Southern appearance, I was cold, profoundly calculating, never
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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 Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain: all right ag'in. But what is you in sich a sweat 'bout it for,
Mammy? 'Tain't none o' your business I don't reckon."
"'Tain't none o' my business? Whose business is it den, I'd like
to know? Wuz I his mother tell he was fifteen years old, or wusn't I?--
you answer me dat. En you speck I could see him turned out po' and
ornery on de worl' en never care noth'n' 'bout it? I reckon if you'd
ever be'n a mother yo'self, Valet de Chambers, you wouldn't talk
sich foolishness as dat."
"Well, den, ole Marse forgive him en fixed up de will ag'in --do dat
satisfy you?"
Yes, she was satisfied now, and quite happy and sentimental over it.
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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 The Last War: A World Set Free by H. G. Wells: Your beauty, dear Edith, and your broad brow, dear Rachel, and
you, Fowler, with your firm and skilful hands, are now almost as
much to me as this hand that beats the arm of my chair. And as
little me. And the spirit that desires to know, the spirit that
resolves to do, that spirit that lives and has talked in us
to-day, lived in Athens, lived in Florence, lives on, I know, for
ever....
'And you, old Sun, with your sword of flame searing these poor
eyes of Marcus for the last time of all, beware of me! You think
I die--and indeed I am only taking off one more coat to get at
you. I have threatened you for ten thousand years, and soon I
The Last War: A World Set Free |
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 Georgics by Virgil: And that the hard earth under them with straw
And handfuls of the fern be littered deep,
Lest chill of ice such tender cattle harm
With scab and loathly foot-rot. Passing thence
I bid the goats with arbute-leaves be stored,
And served with fresh spring-water, and their pens
Turned southward from the blast, to face the suns
Of winter, when Aquarius' icy beam
Now sinks in showers upon the parting year.
These too no lightlier our protection claim,
Nor prove of poorer service, howsoe'er
Georgics |
