| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Rape of Lucrece by William Shakespeare: For there it revels; and when that decays,
The guilty rebel for remission prays.
So fares it with this faultful lord of Rome,
Who this accomplishment so hotly chas'd;
For now against himself he sounds this doom,
That through the length of times he stands disgrac'd:
Besides, his soul's fair temple is defac'd;
To whose weak ruins muster troops of cares,
To ask the spotted princess how she fares.
She says, her subjects with foul insurrection
Have batter'd down her consecrated wall,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from An Old Maid by Honore de Balzac: she reduces the man to the condition of a slave. Under this aspect du
Bousquier was again the antithesis of the chevalier. When he made his
final remark, he flung his night-cap to the foot of the bed, as Pope
Gregory did the taper when he fulminated an excommunication; Suzanne
then learned for the first time that du Bousquier wore a toupet
covering his bald spot.
"Please to remember, Monsieur du Bousquier," she replied majestically,
"that in coming here to tell you of this matter I have done my duty;
remember that I have offered you my hand, and asked for yours; but
remember also that I behaved with the dignity of a woman who respects
herself. I have not abased myself to weep like a silly fool; I have
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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 Seraphita by Honore de Balzac: above the body whose exhausted substances were about to be
annihilated.
The aspiration of the Soul toward heaven was so contagious that
Wilfrid and Minna, beholding those radiant scintillations of Life,
perceived not Death.
They had fallen on their knees when HE had turned toward his Orient,
and they shared his ecstasy.
The fear of the Lord, which creates man a second time, purging away
his dross, mastered their hearts.
Their eyes, veiled to the things of Earth, were opened to the
Brightness of Heaven.
Seraphita |
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 Dynamiter by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson: time there flashed upon the mind of Challoner the ridiculous
jingle which was to serve as password. 'This may, perhaps,
assist you,' he said, and then, with some embarrassment,
'"Nigger, nigger, never die."'
A light of relief broke upon the troubled countenance of the
man with the chin-beard. '"Black face and shining eye" -
give me the letter,' he panted, in one gasp.
'Well,' said Challoner, though still with some reluctance, 'I
suppose I must regard you as the proper recipient; and though
I may justly complain of the spirit in which I have been
treated, I am only too glad to be done with all
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