| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: honour, truth, and good sense; courts and levees of great
ministers thoroughly weeded and swept; wit, merit, and learning
rewarded; all disgracers of the press in prose and verse
condemned to eat nothing but their own cotton, and quench their
thirst with their own ink. These, and a thousand other
reformations, I firmly counted upon by your encouragement; as
indeed they were plainly deducible from the precepts delivered in
my book. And it must be owned, that seven months were a
sufficient time to correct every vice and folly to which YAHOOS
are subject, if their natures had been capable of the least
disposition to virtue or wisdom. Yet, so far have you been from
Gulliver's Travels |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: little to be gathered, and who equally knew the value of wealth
and the various means of
augmenting it and using it as an engine of increasing his power
and influence.
Thus qualified and gifted, he was a dangerous antagonist to the
fierce and imprudent Ravenswood. Whether he had given him good
cause for the enmity with which the Baron regarded him, was a
point on which men spoke differently. Some said the quarrel
arose merely from the vicdictive spirit and envy of Lrod
Ravenswood, who could not patiently behold another, though by
just and fair purchase, become the proprietor of the estate and
The Bride of Lammermoor |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Unconscious Comedians by Honore de Balzac: has hare's-skin or silk on his head, fifteen or thirty francs in
short, the problem is always insoluble. Hats must be paid for in cash,
and that is why the hat remains what it is. The honor of vestural
France will be saved on the day that gray hats with round crowns can
be made to cost a hundred francs. We could then, like the tailors,
give credit. To reach that result men must resolve to wear buckles,
gold lace, plumes, and the brims lined with satin, as in the days of
Louis XIII. and Louis XIV. Our business, which would then enter the
domain of fancy, would increase tenfold. The markets of the world
should belong to France; Paris will forever give the tone to women's
fashions, and yet the hats which all Frenchmen wear to-day are made in
|
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 Egmont by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: he were the master here, and were withheld by courtesy alone from
making us feel his supremacy; as if he would not exactly drive us out of
the country; there'll be no need for that.
Machiavel. I entreat you, put not too harsh a construction upon his frank
and joyous temper, which treats lightly matters of serious moment. You
but injure yourself and him.
Regent. I interpret nothing. I speak only of inevitable consequences, and I
know him. His patent of nobility and the Golden Fleece upon his breast
strengthen his confidence, his audacity. Both can protect him against any
sudden outbreak of royal displeasure. Consider the matter closely, and he
is alone responsible for the whole mischief that has broken out in
Egmont |
