| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Bronte Sisters: "Ye twain shall be one flesh" - and you spurn me from you - '
'Let me go, Mr. Hargrave!' said I, sternly. But he only tightened
his grasp.
'Let me go!' I repeated, quivering with indignation.
His face was almost opposite the window as he knelt. With a slight
start, I saw him glance towards it; and then a gleam of malicious
triumph lit up his countenance. Looking over my shoulder, I beheld
a shadow just retiring round the corner.
'That is Grimsby,' said he deliberately. 'He will report what he
has seen to Huntingdon and all the rest, with such embellishments
as he thinks proper. He has no love for you, Mrs. Huntingdon - no
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Gambara by Honore de Balzac: with praises.
To gain time, Andrea complimented Giardini enthusiastically, but he
leaned over to whisper in his ear, and slipping a gold piece into his
hand under the table, begged him to go out and buy a few bottles of
champagne, leaving him free to take all the credit of the treat.
When the Italian returned, every plate was cleared, and the room rang
with praises of the master-cook. The champagne soon mounted these
southern brains, and the conversation, till now subdued in the
stranger's presence, overleaped the limits of suspicious reserve to
wander far over the wide fields of political and artistic opinions.
Andrea, to whom no form of intoxication was known but those of love
Gambara |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard: Scottish seas.
Little things lead to great, men say, but here great things lead to
little, for because of these tidings it comes about that I, Thomas
Wingfield, of the Lodge and the parish of Ditchingham in the county
of Norfolk, being now of a great age and having only a short time
to live, turn to pen and ink. Ten years ago, namely, in the year
1578, it pleased her Majesty, our gracious Queen Elizabeth, who at
that date visited this county, that I should be brought before her
at Norwich. There and then, saying that the fame of it had reached
her, she commanded me to give her some particulars of the story of
my life, or rather of those twenty years, more or less, which I
Montezuma's Daughter |
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 Purse by Honore de Balzac: is eleven o'clock."
"It is eleven o'clock," repeated the silent figure, looking at
the painter.
The young man, hearing these words rather more distinctly than
all the others, thought it time to retire. Coming back to the
world of ordinary ideas, he found a few commonplace remarks to
make, took leave of the Baroness, her daughter, and the two
strangers, and went away, wholly possessed by the first raptures
of true love, without attempting to analyze the little incidents
of the evening.
On the morrow the young painter felt the most ardent desire to
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