| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Two Poets by Honore de Balzac: found a hiding-place in the old manor-house of Escarbas, and brought
with him his baggage of musical compositions. The old country
gentleman's hospitality was handsomely repaid, for the Abbe undertook
his daughter's education. Anais, or Nais, as she was called must
otherwise have been left to herself, or, worse still, to some coarse-
minded servant-maid. The Abbe was not only a musician, he was well and
widely read, and knew both Italian and German; so Mlle. de Negrepelise
received instruction in those tongues, as well as in counterpoint. He
explained the great masterpieces of the French, German, and Italian
literatures, and deciphered with her the music of the great composers.
Finally, as time hung heavy on his hands in the seclusion enforced by
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Wyoming by William MacLeod Raine: for she knew that out on the desert, within a mile or two of her,
men were stalking each other with life or death in the balance as
the price of vigilance, skill and an unflawed steel nerve. While
she herself had been in danger, she had been mistress of her
fear. But now she could do nothing but wait, after ordering out
such reinforcements as she could recruit without delay; and the
inaction told upon her swift, impulsive temperament. Once, twice,
the wind brought to her a faint sound.
She had been pacing the porch, but she stopped, white as a sheet.
Behind those faint explosions might lie a sinister tragedy. Her
mind projected itself into a score of imaginary possibilities.
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare: Yet would my love to thee be still as much;
For from the stillitory of thy face excelling
Comes breath perfum'd that breedeth love by smelling.
'But O! what banquet wert thou to the taste, 445
Being nurse and feeder of the other four;
Would they not wish the feast might ever last,
And bid Suspicion double-lock the door,
Lest Jealousy, that sour unwelcome guest,
Should, by his stealing in, disturb the feast?' 448
Once more the ruby-colour'd portal open'd,
Which to his speech did honey passage yield, 452
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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 New Poems by Robert Louis Stevenson: Lo, now the battle won,
The trumpets still.
The shepherd's slender strain,
The country sounds again
Awake in wood and plain,
On haugh and hill.
Loud wars and loud loves cease.
I welcome my release;
And hail once more
Free foot and way world-wide.
And oft at eventide
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