| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Elixir of Life by Honore de Balzac: decrepitude came upon him, and with those days the constant
importunity of physical feebleness, an importunity all the more
distressing by contrast with the wealth of memories of his
impetuous youth and the sensual pleasures of middle age. The
unbeliever who in the height of his cynical humor had been wont
to persuade others to believe in laws and principles at which he
scoffed, must repose nightly upon a PERHAPS. The great Duke, the
pattern of good breeding, the champion of many a carouse, the
proud ornament of Courts, the man of genius, the graceful winner
of hearts that he had wrung as carelessly as a peasant twists an
osier withe, was now the victim of a cough, of a ruthless
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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 Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by H. P. Lovecraft: doorways which marked the slumber of the Gugs. Apprehensive of
the ending of the rest hour, the ghouls set a somewhat rapid pace;
but even so the journey was no brief one, for distances in that
town of giants are on a great scale. At last, however, they came
to a somewhat open space before a tower even vaster than the rest;
above whose colossal doorway was fixed a monstrous symbol in bas-relief
which made one shudder without knowing its meaning. This was the
central tower with the sign of Koth, and those huge stone steps
just visible through the dusk within were the beginning of the
great flight leading to upper dreamland and the enchanted wood.
There now began a climb of interminable length in utter blackness:
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Little Britain by Washington Irving: windows, with diamond panes set in lead, grotesque carvings,
and low arched door-ways.
In this most venerable and sheltered little nest have I passed
several quiet years of existence, comfortably lodged in the
second floor of one of the smallest but oldest edifices. My
sitting-room is an old wainscoted chamber, with small panels,
and set off with a miscellaneous array of furniture. I have a
particular respect for three or four high-backed claw-footed
chairs, covered with tarnished brocade, which bear the marks
of having seen better days, and have doubtless figured in some
of the old palaces of Little Britain. They seem to me to keep
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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 The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin: me the most common question, without asking first, "What do you
intend to infer from that?" However, it gave him so high an opinion
of my abilities in the confuting way, that he seriously proposed my
being his colleague in a project he had of setting up a new sect.
He was to preach the doctrines, and I was to confound all opponents.
When he came to explain with me upon the doctrines, I found several
conundrums which I objected to, unless I might have my way a little too,
and introduce some of mine.
Keimer wore his beard at full length, because somewhere in the Mosaic
law it is said, "Thou shalt not mar the corners of thy beard."
He likewise kept the Seventh day, Sabbath; and these two points were
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |
