| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from An Historical Mystery by Honore de Balzac: stronger than he; he who would have shot Bonaparte if the 18th
Brumaire had missed fire; he who manoeuvres now to bring back the
Bourbons if Napoleon totters; he whom the strong will ever find on
their side to handle either sword or pistol and put an end to an
adversary whom they fear! But--all that is only reason the more for
what I urge upon you."
"We have fallen very low," said Laurence.
"Children," said the old marquis, taking them by the hand and going to
the lawn, then covered by a slight fall of snow; "you will be angry at
the prudent advice of an old man, but I am bound to give it, and here
it is: If I were you I would employ as go-between some trustworthy old
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Mosses From An Old Manse by Nathaniel Hawthorne: the bond of mutual disease--not to speak of nation-sweeping
pestilence--embraces high and low, and makes the king a brother
of the clown. But it is not hard to own that disease is the
natural aristocrat. Let him keep his state, and have his
established orders of rank, and wear his royal mantle of the
color of a fever flush and let the noble and wealthy boast their
own physical infirmities, and display their symptoms as the
badges of high station. All things considered, these are as
proper subjects of human pride as any relations of human rank
that men can fix upon.
Sound again, thou deep-breathed trumpeter! and herald, with thy
Mosses From An Old Manse |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne: to what might have been vulgar and commonplace in his earlier and
middle life. Hepzibah had a regard for him, because his name was
ancient in the town and had formerly been respectable. It was a still
better reason for awarding him a species of familiar reverence that
Uncle Venner was himself the most ancient existence, whether of man
or thing, in Pyncheon Street, except the House of the Seven Gables,
and perhaps the elm that overshadowed it.
This patriarch now presented himself before Hepzibah, clad in an
old blue coat, which had a fashionable air, and must have accrued
to him from the cast-off wardrobe of some dashing clerk. As for
his trousers, they were of tow-cloth, very short in the legs,
House of Seven Gables |
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 Four Arthurian Romances by Chretien DeTroyes: And they promised him never to oppose his will in aught. Then he
says: "Let us change our outer gear, by taking the shields and
lances from the traitors whom we have killed. Thus, when we
approach the town, the traitors within will suppose that we are
of their party, and regardless of the fate in store for them,
they will throw open the gates for us. And do you know what
reward we shall offer them? If God so will we shall take them
all dead or alive. Now, if any of you repents of his promise, be
sure that, so long as I live, I shall never hold him dear."
(Vv. 1859-1954.) All the others grant his boon, and, despoiling
the corpses of their shields, they arm themselves with them
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