| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Drama on the Seashore by Honore de Balzac: We saw, sitting on a vast granite boulder, a man who looked at us. His
glance, like that of the flash of a cannon, came from two bloodshot
eyes, and his stoical immobility could be compared only to the
immutable granite masses that surrounded him. His eyes moved slowly,
his body remaining rigid as though he were petrified. Then, having
cast upon us that look which struck us like a blow, he turned his eyes
once more to the limitless ocean, and gazed upon it, in spite of its
dazzling light, as eagles gaze at the sun, without lowering his
eyelids. Try to remember, dear uncle, one of those old oaks, whose
knotty trunks, from which the branches have been lopped, rise with
weird power in some lonely place, and you will have an image of this
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Cromwell by William Shakespeare: MESSENGER.
Sir, the Lords be at hand.
HALES.
They are welcome; bid Cromwell straight attend us,
And look you all things be in perfect readiness.
[The Music plays. Enter Cardinal Wolsey, Sir Thomas
More and Gardiner.]
WOLSEY.
O, sir Christopher,
You are too liberal. What, a banket to?
HALES.
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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 Plutarch's Lives by A. H. Clough: were to discharge great debts, and no loss to the creditors. But most
agree that it was the taking off the debts that was called Seisacthea,
which is confirmed by some places in his poem, where he takes honor to
himself, that
The mortgage-stones that covered her, by me
Removed, --the land that was a slave is free;
that some who had been seized for their debts he had brought back from
other countries, where
--so far their lot to roam,
They had forgot the language of their home;
and some he had set at liberty,--
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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 Atheist's Mass by Honore de Balzac: Zoppi's seemed to me a promised land where none but the Lucullus
of the pays Latin had a right of entry. 'Shall I ever take a cup
of coffee there with milk in it?' said I to myself, 'or play a
game of dominoes?'
"I threw into my work the fury I felt at my misery. I tried to
master positive knowledge so as to acquire the greatest personal
value, and merit the position I should hold as soon as I could
escape from nothingness. I consumed more oil than bread; the
light I burned during these endless nights cost me more than
food. It was a long duel, obstinate, with no sort of consolation.
I found no sympathy anywhere. To have friends, must we not form
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