| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Country Doctor by Honore de Balzac: to die. Again, if this elective body, changing from time to time
according to the needs and ideas of those whom it represents, should
refuse obedience to a bad law in the name of the people, well and
good. But to imagine that five hundred men, drawn from every corner of
the kingdom, will make a good law! Is it not a dreary joke, for which
the people will sooner or later have to pay? They have a change of
masters, that is all.
"Authority ought to be given to one man, he alone should have the task
of making the laws; and he should be a man who, by force of
circumstances, is continually obliged to submit his actions to general
approbation. But the only restraints that can be brought to bear upon
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Beauty and The Beast by Bayard Taylor: seeking the Light and walking therein. He did not always employ
the customary phrases, but neither did he seem to speak the lower
language of logic and reason; while his tones were so full and
mellow that they gave, with every slowly modulated sentence, a
fresh satisfaction to the ear. Even his broad a's and the strong
roll of his r's verified the rumor of his foreign birth, did not
detract from the authority of his words. The doubts which had
preceded him somehow melted away in his presence, and he came
forth, after the meeting had been dissolved by the shaking of
hands, an accepted tenant of the high seat.
That evening, the family were alone in their new home. The plain
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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 Smalcald Articles by Dr. Martin Luther: [made] ordained and commanded by Christ. And we especially
condemn and in God's name execrate those who not only omit
both forms but also quite autocratically [tyrannically]
prohibit, condemn, and blaspheme them as heresy, and so exalt
themselves against and above Christ, our Lord and God
[opposing and placing themselves ahead of Christ], etc.
As regards transubstantiation, we care nothing about the
sophistical subtlety by which they teach that bread and wine
leave or lose their own natural substance, and that there
remain only the appearance and color of bread, and not true
bread. For it is in perfect agreement with Holy Scriptures
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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 Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: France."
Two hours later Monsieur de Watteville said to his daughter:
"I was right; there is not one foreign subscriber as yet. They hope to
get some at Neufchatel, at Berne, and at Geneva. One copy, is in fact,
sent to Italy, but it is not paid for--to a Milanese lady at her
country house at Belgirate, on Lago Maggiore.
"What is her name?"
"The Duchesse d'Argaiolo."
"Do you know her, papa?"
"I have heard about her. She was by birth a Princess Soderini, a
Florentine, a very great lady, and quite as rich as her husband, who
Albert Savarus |
