| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: fields, and ponds and vineyards, and two dairies, which bring in a
thousand crowns a year, with a house which we both like,--all of which
we can have for sixty thousand francs; and, lo! Monsieur now wants to
become something under government! Recollect what we are,--perfumers.
If sixteen years before you invented the DOUBLE PASTE OF SULTANS and
the CARMINATIVE BALM some one had said, 'You are going to make enough
money to buy Les Tresorieres,' wouldn't you have been half sick with
joy? Well, you can acquire that property which you wanted so much that
you hardly opened your mouth about anything else, and now you talk of
spending on nonsense money earned by the sweat of our brow: I can say
ours, for I've sat behind the desk through all that time, like a poor
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: stopping to speak to her, they, as belonging to her,
stopped likewise, and Catherine, catching Mr. Tilney's eye,
instantly received from him the smiling tribute
of recognition. She returned it with pleasure,
and then advancing still nearer, he spoke both to her
and Mrs. Allen, by whom he was very civilly acknowledged.
"I am very happy to see you again, sir, indeed; I was
afraid you had left Bath." He thanked her for her fears,
and said that he had quitted it for a week, on the very
morning after his having had the pleasure of seeing her.
"Well, sir, and I dare say you are not sorry to be
Northanger Abbey |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Statesman by Plato: STRANGER: The art of the general is only ministerial, and therefore not
political?
YOUNG SOCRATES: Exactly.
STRANGER: Once more let us consider the nature of the righteous judge.
YOUNG SOCRATES: Very good.
STRANGER: Does he do anything but decide the dealings of men with one
another to be just or unjust in accordance with the standard which he
receives from the king and legislator,--showing his own peculiar virtue
only in this, that he is not perverted by gifts, or fears, or pity, or by
any sort of favour or enmity, into deciding the suits of men with one
another contrary to the appointment of the legislator?
Statesman |
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 Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas Wentworth Higginson: Harry,--assuming, as lovers are wont, that brothers see sisters
on their ideal side. This was quite true of Harry and Hope,
but not at all true as regarded Emilia. She seemed to him
simply a beautiful and ungoverned girl whom he could not
respect, and whom he therefore found it very hard to idealize.
Therefore he heard with a sort of sadness the outpourings of
generous devotion from John Lambert.
"I don't know how it is, Henry," the merchant would gravely
say, "I can't get rightly used to it, that I feel so strange.
Honestly, now, I feel as if I was beginning life over again. It
ain't a selfish feeling, so I know there's some good in it. I
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