| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Marriage Contract by Honore de Balzac: "An entail, madam," replied Solonet, "means an inalienable right to
the inheritance of certain property belonging to both husband and
wife, which is settled from generation to generation on the eldest son
of the house, without, however, depriving him of his right to share in
the division of the rest of the property."
"What will be the effect of this on my daughter's rights?"
Maitre Mathias, incapable of disguising the truth, replied:--
"Madame, an entail being an appanage, or portion of property set aside
for this purpose from the fortunes of husband and wife, it follows
that if the wife dies first, leaving several children, one of them a
son, Monsieur de Manerville will owe those children three hundred and
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Alcibiades I by Plato: introduce me.
ALCIBIADES: You are mocking, Socrates.
SOCRATES: No, indeed; I most solemnly declare to you by Zeus, who is the
God of our common friendship, and whom I never will forswear, that I am
not; tell me, then, who this instructor is, if he exists.
ALCIBIADES: But, perhaps, he does not exist; may I not have acquired the
knowledge of just and unjust in some other way?
SOCRATES: Yes; if you have discovered them.
ALCIBIADES: But do you not think that I could discover them?
SOCRATES: I am sure that you might, if you enquired about them.
ALCIBIADES: And do you not think that I would enquire?
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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 The Augsburg Confession by Philip Melanchthon: reverence. Nearly all the usual ceremonies are also preserved,
save that the parts sung in Latin are interspersed here and
there with German hymns, which have been added to teach the
people. For ceremonies are needed to this end alone that the
unlearned be taught [what they need to know of Christ]. And
not only has Paul commanded to use in the church a language
understood by the people 1 Cor. 14,2. 9, but it has also been
so ordained by man's law. The people are accustomed to partake
of the Sacrament together, if any be fit for it, and this also
increases the reverence and devotion of public worship. For
none are admitted except they be first examined. The people
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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 House of Mirth by Edith Wharton: Gryce to extract his promise about the overshoes, so little
likely was he to hazard himself abroad in the rain. After
attaining his majority, and coming into the fortune which the
late Mr. Gryce had made out of a patent device for excluding
fresh air from hotels, the young man continued to live with his
mother in Albany; but on Jefferson Gryce's death, when another
large property passed into her son's hands, Mrs. Gryce thought
that what she called his "interests" demanded his presence in New
York. She accordingly installed herself in the Madison Avenue
house, and Percy, whose sense of duty was not inferior to his
mother's, spent all his week days in the handsome Broad Street
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