| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ferragus by Honore de Balzac: thousand houses, and said, pointing to the space comprised between the
column of the Place Vendome and the gilded cupola of the Invalides:--
"She was wrenched from me there by the fatal curiosity of that world
which excites itself and meddles solely for excitement and
occupation."
Twelve miles from where they were, on the banks of the Seine, in a
modest village lying on the slope of a hill of that long hilly basin
the middle of which great Paris stirs like a child in its cradle, a
death scene was taking place, far indeed removed from Parisian pomps,
with no accompaniment of torches or tapers or mourning-coaches,
without prayers of the Church, in short, a death in all simplicity.
Ferragus |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Life in the Iron-Mills by Rebecca Davis: throats, (the more popular amusement of the two,) I am not
responsible."
The Doctor sighed,--a good honest sigh, from the depths of his
stomach.
"God help us! Who is responsible?"
"Not I, I tell you," said Kirby, testily. "What has the man who
pays them money to do with their souls' concerns, more than the
grocer or butcher who takes it?"
"And yet," said Mitchell's cynical voice, "look at her! How
hungry she is!"
Kirby tapped his boot with his cane. No one spoke. Only the
Life in the Iron-Mills |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: of the church, and stands upon four pillars elegant and light enough, but
sufficiently strong at the same time--it is decorated with eleven altars,
most of which are rather fine than beautiful. The great altar is a master-
piece in its kind; 'tis of white marble, and, as I was told, near sixty
feet high--had it been much higher, it had been as high as mount Calvary
itself--therefore, I suppose it must be high enough in all conscience.
There was nothing struck me more than the great Square; tho' I cannot say
'tis either well paved or well built; but 'tis in the heart of the town,
and most of the streets, especially those in that quarter, all terminate in
it; could there have been a fountain in all Calais, which it seems there
cannot, as such an object would have been a great ornament, it is not to be
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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 Phantasmagoria and Other Poems by Lewis Carroll: With the calm deliberation,
The intense deliberation
Of a photographic artist:
But he left them in a hurry,
Left them in a mighty hurry,
Stating that he would not stand it,
Stating in emphatic language
What he'd be before he'd stand it.
Hurriedly he packed his boxes:
Hurriedly the porter trundled
On a barrow all his boxes:
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