| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Vendetta by Honore de Balzac: her parents.
With Bartolomeo, as with his daughter, the hesitations of this period
caused by the native goodness of their souls were, nevertheless,
compelled to give way before their pride and the rancor of their
Corsican nature. They encouraged each other in their anger, and closed
their eyes to the future. Perhaps they mutually flattered themselves
that the one would yield to the other.
At last, on Ginevra's birthday, her mother, in despair at the
estrangement which, day by day, assumed a more serious character,
meditated an attempt to reconcile the father and daughter, by help of
the memories of this family anniversary. They were all three sitting
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from St. Ives by Robert Louis Stevenson: house?' said I.
'That was the idea I was trying to convey,' said he. 'We have the
name of hospitable people up here, and I would like you to try
mine.'
'Mr. Robbie, I shall hope to try it some day, but not yet,' I
replied. 'I hope you will not misunderstand me. My business,
which brings me to your city, is of a peculiar kind. Till you
shall have heard it, and, indeed, till its issue is known, I should
feel as if I had stolen your invitation.'
'Well, well,' said he, a little sobered, 'it must be as you wish,
though you would hardly speak otherwise if you had committed
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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 Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) by Dante Alighieri: H. C. XXVI. 9.
July 20. Petrarch, whose father had been banished two years
before from Florence, is born at Arezzo.
1305. Winceslaus II. king of Bohemia, dies. Purg. C. VII. 99.
and Par. C. XIX 123.
A conflagration happens at Florence. H. C. XXVI. 9.
1306. Dante visits Padua.
1307. He is in Lunigiana with the Marchese Marcello Malaspina.
Purg. C. VIII. 133. and C. XIX. 140.
Dolcino, the fanatic, is burned. H. C. XXVIII. 53.
1308. The Emperor Albert I. murdered. Purg. C. VI. 98. and
The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) |
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 An Episode Under the Terror by Honore de Balzac: "Do not be alarmed if somebody tries to come in," said the priest.
"Somebody on whom we could depend was to make all necessary
arrangements for crossing the frontier. He is to come for the letters
that I have written to the Duc de Langeais and the Marquis de
Beauseant, asking them to find some way of taking you out of this
dreadful country, and away from the death or the misery that waits for
you here."
"But are you not going to follow us?" the nuns cried under their
breath, almost despairingly.
"My post is here where the sufferers are," the priest said simply, and
the women said no more, but looked at their guest in reverent
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