| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Domestic Peace by Honore de Balzac: fully informed at the ball of an infidelity he had hoped to hide from
her; and, as is the way of lovers conscious of their guilt, he tried,
by being the first to find fault, to escape her just anger. Happy in
seeing her husband smile, and in finding him at this hour in a room
whither of late he had come more rarely, the Countess looked at him so
tenderly that she blushed and cast down her eyes. Her clemency
enraptured Soulanges all the more, because this scene followed on the
misery he had endured at the ball. He seized his wife's hand and
kissed it gratefully. Is not gratitude often a part of love?
"Hortense, what is that on your finger that has hurt my lip so much?"
asked he, laughing.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Kenilworth by Walter Scott: deference and humility, as soon as the Queen's passion gave him
an opportunity, he replied, "So please your most gracious
Majesty, I was charged with no apology from the Earl of Sussex."
"With what were you then charged, sir?" said the Queen, with the
impetuosity which, amid nobler qualities, strongly marked her
character. "Was it with a justification?--or, God's death! with
a defiance?"
"Madam," said the young man, "my Lord of Sussex knew the offence
approached towards treason, and could think of nothing save of
securing the offender, and placing him in your Majesty's hands,
and at your mercy. The noble Earl was fast asleep when your most
Kenilworth |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: God to use them. If your parents tried to teach you your lessons
in the most agreeable way, by beautiful picture-books, would it
not be ungracious, ungrateful, and altogether naughty and wrong,
to shut your eyes to those pictures, and refuse to learn? And is
it not altogether naughty and wrong to refuse to learn from your
Father in Heaven, the Great God who made all things, when he
offers to teach you all day long by the most beautiful and most
wonderful of all picture-books, which is simply all things which
you can see, hear, and touch, from the sun and stars above your
head to the mosses and insects at your feet? It is your duty to
learn His lessons: and it is your interest. God's Book, which is
|
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 Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: At half-past ten the Queen rose and shook hands with each lady; we
curtsied profoundly, and she and the Prince departed. We then bade
each other good-night, and found our carriages as soon as we chose.
LETTER: To W.D.B. and A.B.
LONDON, May 16, 1847
My dear Sons: My letters by this steamer will have very little
interest for you, as, from being in complete retirement, I have no
new things to related to you. . . . We have taken advantage of our
leisure to drive a little into the country, and on Tuesday I had a
pleasure of the highest order in driving down to Esher and passing a
quiet day with Lady Byron, the widow of the poet. She is an
|
