| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: romances discovered by Augustine in the cupboard of a cook Madame
Guillaume had lately discharged--/Hippolyte Comte de Douglas/ and /Le
Comte de Comminges/--may have contributed to develop the ideas of the
young girl, who had devoured them in secret, during the long nights of
the past winter.
And so Augustine's expression of vague longing, her gentle voice, her
jasmine skin, and her blue eyes had lighted in poor Lebas' soul a
flame as ardent as it was reverent. From an easily understood caprice,
Augustine felt no affection for the orphan; perhaps she did not know
that he loved her. On the other hand, the senior apprentice, with his
long legs, his chestnut hair, his big hands and powerful frame, had
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sylvie and Bruno by Lewis Carroll: "Oo're not a Servant!" Bruno scornfully exclaimed. "Oo're a Gemplun!"
"Servant, I assure your Royal Highness!" Eric respectfully insisted.
"Allow me to mention to your Royal Highness my various situations--past,
present, and future."
"What did oo begin wiz?" Bruno asked, beginning to enter into the jest.
"Was oo a shoe-black?"
"Lower than that, your Royal Highness! Years ago, I offered myself as
a Slave--as a 'Confidential Slave,' I think it's called?" he asked,
turning to Lady Muriel.
But Lady Muriel heard him not: something had gone wrong with her glove,
which entirely engrossed her attention.
Sylvie and Bruno |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: dark blue with gentians; another will blush with the delicate pink
of the Santa Lucia or the deeper red of the clover; and another
will shine yellow as cloth of gold. Over all this opulence of
bloom the larks were soaring and singing. I never heard so many as
in the meadows about Cortina. There was always a sweet spray of
music sprinkling down out of the sky, where the singers poised
unseen. It was like walking through a shower of melody.
From the Alp Pocol, which is simply a fair, lofty pasture, we had
our first full view of Nuvolau, rising bare and strong, like a huge
bastion, from the dark fir-woods. Through these our way led onward
now for seven miles, with but a slight ascent. Then turning off to
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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 Jerusalem Delivered by Torquato Tasso: When night were come their fight to hide;
The rest their hands and hearts that trusted not,
Blushed for shame, yet silent still abide;
For none there was that sought to purchase fame
In so great peril, fear exiled shame.
LX
The angry duke their fear discovered plain,
By their pale looks and silence from each part,
And as he moved was with just disdain,
These words he said, and from his seat upstart:
"Unworthy life I judge that coward swain
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