| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Cousin Betty by Honore de Balzac: destitute is the last depth of misfortune in society as now
constituted. I am a man of my time; I respect money."
"And you are right," said Adeline, "from the worldly point of view."
She was a thousand miles from her point, and she felt herself on a
gridiron, like Saint Laurence, as she thought of her uncle, for she
could see him blowing his brains out.
She looked down; then she raised her eyes to gaze at Crevel with
angelic sweetness--not with the inviting suggestiveness which was part
of Valerie's wit. Three years ago she could have bewitched Crevel by
that beautiful look.
"I have known the time," said she, "when you were more generous--you
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte: 'What is the matter with the mutton, my dear?' asked his mate.
'It is quite overdone. Don't you taste, Mrs. Bloomfield, that all
the goodness is roasted out of it? And can't you see that all that
nice, red gravy is completely dried away?'
'Well, I think the BEEF will suit you.'
The beef was set before him, and he began to carve, but with the
most rueful expressions of discontent.
'What is the matter with the BEEF, Mr. Bloomfield? I'm sure I
thought it was very nice.'
'And so it WAS very nice. A nicer joint could not be; but it is
QUITE spoiled,' replied he, dolefully.
Agnes Grey |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Turn of the Screw by Henry James: XXIV
My sense of how he received this suffered for a minute from something
that I can describe only as a fierce split of my attention--
a stroke that at first, as I sprang straight up, reduced me to
the mere blind movement of getting hold of him, drawing him close,
and, while I just fell for support against the nearest piece
of furniture, instinctively keeping him with his back to the window.
The appearance was full upon us that I had already had to deal with here:
Peter Quint had come into view like a sentinel before a prison.
The next thing I saw was that, from outside, he had reached the window,
and then I knew that, close to the glass and glaring in through it,
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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 1492 by Mary Johntson: Ignatio told me, and he said the name was `chaos'.''
``That was south. That wasn't west.''
``West is just as bad!''
Fernando also addressed the young man, the third, calling
him Sancho. ``If there were anything west for Christian
men, wouldn't the Holy Father at Rome have sent long
ago? We are all going to die!''
``But they didn't know it was round,'' said Sancho. ``Now
we do, and that's the difference! If you started a little
manikin just here on an orange and told him to go straight
ahead, he'd come around home, wouldn't he?''
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