| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Father Goriot by Honore de Balzac: The old vermicelli dealer lighted his dip at one of the lamps as
he spoke. Eugene went with him, his curiosity had been aroused.
"Let us go up to your room," the worthy soul remarked, when he
had asked Sylvie for the law student's key. "This morning," he
resumed, "you thought that SHE did not care about you, did you
not? Eh? She would have nothing to say to you, and you went away
out of humor and out of heart. Stuff and rubbish! She wanted you
to go because she was expecting ME! Now do you understand? We
were to complete the arrangements for taking some chambers for
you, a jewel of a place, you are to move into it in three days'
time. Don't split upon me. She wants it to be a surprise; but I
Father Goriot |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: spelling, this inscription on the Tolbooth bell seems too delicious
to withhold: 'This bell is founded at Maiboll Bi Danel Geli, a
Frenchman, the 6th November, 1696, Bi appointment of the heritors of
the parish of Maiyboll.' The Castle deserves more notice. It is a
large and shapely tower, plain from the ground upwards, but with a
zone of ornamentation running about the top. In a general way this
adornment is perched on the very summit of the chimney-stacks; but
there is one corner more elaborate than the rest. A very heavy
string-course runs round the upper story, and just above this, facing
up the street, the tower carries a small oriel window, fluted and
corbelled and carved about with stone heads. It is so ornate it has
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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 Reign of King Edward the Third by William Shakespeare: To dignify whose lusty spirit the more,
We temper it with Audly's gravity,
That, courage and experience joined in one,
Your manage may be second unto none:
For the main battles, I will guide my self;
And, Darby, in the rearward march behind,
That orderly disposed and set in ray,
Let us to horse; and God grant us the day!
[Exeunt.]
ACT III. SCENE IV. The Same.
[Alarum. Enter a many French men flying. After them
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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 Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs: and then, realizing that she was already dead, he turned from
her, to examine the contents of the room; nor did he again
molest the body of either Lady Alice or Sir John.
The rifle hanging upon the wall caught his first attention; it
was for this strange, death-dealing thunder-stick that he had
yearned for months; but now that it was within his grasp he
scarcely had the temerity to seize it.
Cautiously he approached the thing, ready to flee
precipitately should it speak in its deep roaring tones,
as he had heard it speak before, the last words to those
of his kind who, through ignorance or rashness, had attacked
Tarzan of the Apes |
