| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Hidden Masterpiece by Honore de Balzac: of ancient gold-brocaded curtains, flung in broad folds about the room
to serve the painter as models for his drapery. Anatomical casts in
plaster, fragments and torsos of antique goddesses amorously polished
by the kisses of centuries, jostled each other upon shelves and
brackets. Innumerable sketches, studies in the three crayons, in ink,
and in red chalk covered the walls from floor to ceiling; color-boxes,
bottles of oil and turpentine, easels and stools upset or standing at
right angles, left but a narrow pathway to the circle of light thrown
from the window in the roof, which fell full on the pale face of
Porbus and on the ivory skull of his singular visitor.
The attention of the young man was taken exclusively by a picture
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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 Case of the Registered Letter by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: trouble; he has suffered from it for years, and it has been growing
steadily worse. I dare not think what this excitement may do for
him." Miss Graumann broke down again and sobbed aloud. Muller laid
his hands soothingly on the little old fingers that gripped the arm
of the chair.
"Did your nephew send you here to ask for help?" he inquired very
gently.
"Oh, no" The old lady looked up at him through her tears. "No, he
would not have done that. I'm afraid that he'll be angry if he
knows that I have come. He seemed so hopeless, so dazed. I just
couldn't stand it. It seemed to me that the police in G- were
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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 My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass: And I, the said Thomas Auld, for myself my heirs, executors, and
administrators, all and singular, the said FREDERICK BAILY
_alias_ DOUGLASS, unto the said Hugh Auld, his executors,
administrators, and assigns against me, the said Thomas Auld, my
executors, and administrators, and against ali and every other
person or persons whatsoever, shall and will warrant and forever
defend by these presents. In witness whereof, I set my hand and
seal, this thirteenth day of November, eighteen hundred and
forty-six. THOMAS
AULD
"Signed, sealed, and delivered in presence of Wrightson Jones.
My Bondage and My Freedom |
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 Ivanhoe by Walter Scott: carved.
No fewer than four silver candelabras, holding
great waxen torches, served to illuminate this apartment.
Yet let not modern beauty envy the magnificence
of a Saxon princess. The walls of the
apartment were so ill finished and so full of crevices,
that the rich hangings shook in the night blast,
and, in despite of a sort of screen intended to protect
them from the wind, the flame of the torches
streamed sideways into the air, like the unfurled
pennon of a chieftain. Magnificence there was,
Ivanhoe |
