| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: the officer Fernand and the Count of Morcerf are one and the
same person? and who cares now about Yanina, which was taken
as long ago as the year 1822 or 1823?"
"That just shows the meanness of this slander. They have
allowed all this time to elapse, and then all of a sudden
rake up events which have been forgotten to furnish
materials for scandal, in order to tarnish the lustre of our
high position. I inherit my father's name, and I do not
choose that the shadow of disgrace should darken it. I am
going to Beauchamp, in whose journal this paragraph appears,
and I shall insist on his retracting the assertion before
The Count of Monte Cristo |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from King Henry VI by William Shakespeare: Among which terms he used his lavish tongue
And did upbraid me with my father's death:
Which obloquy set bars before my tongue,
Else with the like I had requited him.
Therefore, good uncle, for my father's sake,
In honor of a true Plantagenet
And for alliance sake, declare the cause
My father, Earl of Cambridge, lost his head.
MORTIMER.
That cause, fair nephew, that imprison'd me
And hath detain'd me all my flowering youth
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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 Woman and Labour by Olive Schreiner: who supply its most valuable munition, who, not amid the clamour and ardour
of battle, but singly, and alone, with a three-in-the-morning courage, shed
our blood and face death that the battlefield may have its food, a food
more precious to us than our heart's blood; it is we especially, who in the
domain of war, have our word to say, a word no man can say for us. It is
our intention to enter into the domain of war and to labour there till in
the course of generations we have extinguished it.
If today we claim all labour for our province, yet more especially do we
claim those fields in which the difference in the reproductive function
between man and woman may place male and female at a slightly different
angle with regard to certain phases of human life.
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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 A Drama on the Seashore by Honore de Balzac: "'No.'
"'Will you swear it on your eternal life?'
"He was about to swear; his mother raised her eyes to him, and said:--
"'Jacques, my child, take care; do not swear if it is not true; you
can repent, you can amend; there is still time.'
"And she wept.
"'You are a this and a that,' he said; 'you have always wanted to ruin
me.'
"Cambremer turned white and said,--
"'Such language to your mother increases your crime. Come, to the
point! Will you swear?'
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