| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: quite unfit to print, the report is necessarily inadequate.
" 'My dear fellow, I will leave that vile, shameless opera dancer, a
worn-out jade that has been set spinning like a top to every operatic
air; a foul hussy, an organ-grinder's monkey! Oh, my dear boy, you
have taken up with an actress; may the notion of marrying your
mistress never get a hold on you. It is a torment omitted from the
hell of Dante, you see. Look here! I will beat her; I will give her a
thrashing; I will give it to her! Poison of my life, she sent me off
like a running footman.'
"By this time we had reached the boulevard, and he had worked himself
up to such a pitch of fury that the words stuck in his throat.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: tongue at Vinet.
Antonin Goulard, ushered by the landlord into a room which had been
turned into a salon, felt himself instantly under the focus of an
eyeglass held in the most impertinent manner by the stranger.
"Monsieur," said the sub-prefect with a certain official hauteur, "I
have just learned from the wife of the innkeeper that you refuse to
conform to the ordinances of the police, and as I do not doubt that
you are a person of distinction, I have come myself--"
"Is your name Goulard?" demanded the stranger in a high voice.
"I am the sub-prefect, monsieur," replied Antonin Goulard.
"Your father belonged to the Simeuse family?"
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Hellenica by Xenophon: also Prof. Jowett's note, "Thuc." v. 2; vol. ii. p. 286.
[16] I.e. who had already seen ten years of service, i.e. over twenty-
eight, as the Spartan was eligible to serve at eighteen. Cf. Xen.
"Hell." III. iv. 23; VI. iv. 176.
[17] The outer Ceramicus, "the most beautiful spot outside the walls."
Cf. Thuc. ii. 34; through it passes the street of the tombs on the
sacred road; and here was the place of burial for all persons
honoured with a public funeral. Cf. Arist. "Birds," 395.
Watching how matters went, Thrasybulus began his advance with the
whole of his heavy infantry to support his light troops and quickly
fell into line eight deep, acting as a screen to the rest of his
|
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 Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum: ask your name, sir?" he continued.
"Before I was so cut up," replied the other, "I was
known as Captain Fyter, but afterward I was merely
called 'The Tin Soldier.'"
"Well, Captain, if you are agreeable, let us now go
to Nimmie Amee's house and let her choose between us."
"Very well; and if we meet the Witch, we will both
fight her -- you with your axe and I with my sword."
"The Witch is destroyed," announced the Scarecrow,
and as they walked away he told the Tin Soldier of much
that had happened in the Land of Oz since he had stood
The Tin Woodman of Oz |
