| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Les Miserables by Victor Hugo: "I will pay for them."
Then he turned to Cosette.
"Now I own your work; play, my child."
The carter was so much touched by the five-franc piece, that he
abandoned his glass and hastened up.
"But it's true!" he cried, examining it. "A real hind wheel!
and not counterfeit!"
Thenardier approached and silently put the coin in his pocket.
The Thenardier had no reply to make. She bit her lips, and her
face assumed an expression of hatred.
In the meantime, Cosette was trembling. She ventured to ask:--
Les Miserables |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Sportsman by Xenophon: to the huntsman.[20]
[18] Lit. "let them follow up the chase vigorously, and not relax,
with yelp and bark."
[19] {dikaios}, Sturz, "non temere"; "and not without good reason."
Al. "a right good honest salvo of barks."
[20] Lit. "Let them not hark back to join the huntsman, and desert the
trail."
Along with this build and method of working, hounds should possess
four points. They should have pluck, sound feet, keen noses, and sleek
coats. The spirited, plucky hound will prove his mettle by refusing to
leave the chase, however stifling the weather; a good nose is shown by
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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 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne: clever hand, the Nautilus passed through all the ice with a precision
which quite charmed Conseil; icebergs or mountains, ice-fields or
smooth plains, seeming to have no limits, drift-ice or floating ice-packs,
plains broken up, called palchs when they are circular, and streams
when they are made up of long strips. The temperature was very low;
the thermometer exposed to the air marked 2@ or 3@ below zero, but we
were warmly clad with fur, at the expense of the sea-bear and seal.
The interior of the Nautilus, warmed regularly by its electric apparatus,
defied the most intense cold. Besides, it would only have been necessary
to go some yards beneath the waves to find a more bearable temperature.
Two months earlier we should have had perpetual daylight in these latitudes;
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea |
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 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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