| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Europeans by Henry James: She disliked this little American girl, and she was quite prepared
to learn that she had failed to commend herself to Miss Acton.
Lizzie struck her as positive and explicit almost to pertness;
and the idea of her combining the apparent incongruities of a taste
for housework and the wearing of fresh, Parisian-looking dresses
suggested the possession of a dangerous energy. It was a source
of irritation to the Baroness that in this country it should seem
to matter whether a little girl were a trifle less or a trifle
more of a nonentity; for Eugenia had hitherto been conscious of no
moral pressure as regards the appreciation of diminutive virgins.
It was perhaps an indication of Lizzie's pertness that she
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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 Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: alive! ---- As if I had the twelve celestial monsters of the
zodiac to shew within, or was forced for a livelihood to turn
retailer to May and Bartholomew Fairs. Therefore, if Her Majesty
would but graciously be pleased to think a hardship of this
nature worthy her royal consideration, and the next parliament,
in their great wisdom cast but an eye towards the deplorable case
of their old philomath, that annually bestows his poetical good
wishes on them, I am sure there is one Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq;
would soon be truss'd up for his bloody predictions, and putting
good subjects in terror of their lives: And that henceforward to
murder a man by way of prophecy, and bury him in a printed
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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 An Old Maid by Honore de Balzac: attracted the eye to their rosy, well-shaped nails. In short, had it
not been for his magisterial and stupendous nose, the chevalier might
have been thought a trifle too dainty.
We must here compel ourselves to spoil this portrait by the avowal of
a littleness. The chevalier put cotton in his ears, and wore, appended
to them, two little ear-rings representing negroes' heads in diamonds,
of admirable workmanship. He clung to these singular appendages,
explaining that since his ears had been bored he had ceased to have
headaches (he had had headaches). We do not present the chevalier as
an accomplished man; but surely we can pardon, in an old celibate
whose heart sends so much blood to his left cheek, these adorable
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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 A Daughter of Eve by Honore de Balzac: three of them, unknown to Nathan, have privately sold the paper to the
new ministry, so sure are they of ejecting him."
"Monsieur Nathan is incapable of accepting money from an actress."
"You don't know that class of people, my dear," said the count. "He
would not deny the fact if you asked him."
"I will certainly go to the ball," said the countess.
"You will be very much amused," replied Vandenesse. "With such weapons
in hand you can cut Nathan's complacency to the quick, and you will
also do him a great service. You will put him in a fury; he'll try to
be calm, though inwardly fuming; but, all the same, you will enlighten
a man of talent as to the peril in which he really stands; and you
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