| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tour Through Eastern Counties of England by Daniel Defoe: and seldom held it above half a year, or a year at most; "And
then," said he, "we go to the uplands again and fetch another;" so
that marrying of wives was reckoned a kind of good farm to them.
It is true the fellow told this in a kind of drollery and mirth;
but the fact, for all that, is certainly true; and that they have
abundance of wives by that very means. Nor is it less true that
the inhabitants in these places do not hold it out, as in other
countries, and as first you seldom meet with very ancient people
among the poor, as in other places we do, so, take it one with
another, not one-half of the inhabitants are natives of the place;
but such as from other countries or in other parts of this country
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Droll Stories, V. 1 by Honore de Balzac: little caprices."
"I'll burn the house down. Sorceress, you have bewitched me. You shall
perish at the stake. Listen to me, my love,--my gentle Dove--I promise
you the best place in heaven. Eh? No. Death to you then--death to the
sorceress."
"Oh, oh! I will kill you, Monseigneur."
And the cardinal foamed with rage.
"You are making a fool of yourself," said she. "Go away, you'll tire
yourself."
"I shall be pope, and you shall pay for this!"
"Then you are no longer disposed to obey me?"
Droll Stories, V. 1 |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from House of Mirth by Edith Wharton: the portrait of Miss Bart.
Here there could be no mistaking the predominance of
personality--the unanimous "Oh!" of the spectators was a tribute,
not to the brush-work of Reynolds's "Mrs. Lloyd" but to the flesh
and blood loveliness of Lily Bart. She had shown her artistic
intelligence in selecting a type so like her own that she could
embody the person represented without ceasing to be
herself. It was as though she had stepped, not out of, but into,
Reynolds's canvas, banishing the phantom of his dead beauty by
the beams of her living grace. The impulse to show herself in a
splendid setting--she had thought for a moment of representing
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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 Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: flashing from her eyes. "Not far from here there is a grave, where an
unhappy man is lying beneath the weight of a dreadful crime; here in
this sumptuous home is a woman, crowned with the fame of benevolence
and virtue. This woman is blessed; that poor young man is cursed. The
criminal is covered with obloquy; I receive the respect of all. I had
the largest share in the sin; he has a share, a large share in the
good which has won for me such glory and such gratitude. Fraud that I
am, I have the honor; he, the martyr to his loyalty, has the shame. I
shall die in a few hours, and the canton will mourn me; the whole
department will ring with my good deeds, my piety, my virtue; but he
died covered with insults, in sight of a whole population rushing,
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