| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: LONDON, November 4, 1847
Dear W.: . . . Mr. Bancroft and I dined on Friday, the 22d, with
Mr. and Mrs. Hawes, under-Secretary of State, to meet Mr. Brooke,
the Rajah of Sarawak, who is a great lion in London just now. He is
an English gentleman of large fortune who has done much to
Christianize Borneo, and to open its trade to the English. I sat
between him and Mr. Ward, formerly Minister to Mexico before Mr.
Pakenham. He wrote a very nice book on Mexico, and is an agreeable
and intelligent person. . . . On Wednesday A. and I went together to
the National Gallery, and just as we were setting out Mr. Butler of
New York came in and I invited him to join us. . . . While we were
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Lover's Complaint by William Shakespeare: Not to be tempted, would she be immur'd,
And now, to tempt all, liberty procur'd.
'How mighty then you are, O hear me tell!
The broken bosoms that to me belong
Have emptied all their fountains in my well,
And mine I pour your ocean all among:
I strong o'er them, and you o'er me being strong,
Must for your victory us all congest,
As compound love to physic your cold breast.
'My parts had pow'r to charm a sacred nun,
Who, disciplin'd and dieted in grace,
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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 Illustrious Gaudissart by Honore de Balzac: of my political opinions.
"As for the 'Globe,' that's another breed altogether. Just set to
work and talk new doctrines to people you fancy are fools enough
to believe such lies,--why, they think you want to burn their
houses down! It is vain for me to tell them that I speak for
futurity, for posterity, for self-interest properly understood;
for enterprise where nothing can be lost; that man has preyed upon
man long enough; that woman is a slave; that the great
providential thought should be made to triumph; that a way must be
found to arrive at a rational co-ordination of the social fabric,
--in short, the whole reverberation of my sentences. Well, what do
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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 Confidence by Henry James: is that what you say? Well, she did n't want me to be
narrowed down; she wanted me to have plenty of conversation.
She wanted me to be fitted for society--that 's what mamma wanted.
She wanted me to have ease of manner; she thinks that if you
don't acquire it when you are young you never have it at all.
She was so happy to think I should come to Baden; but she would
n't approve of the life I 've been leading the last four days.
That 's no way to acquire ease of manner--sitting all day
in a small parlor with two persons of one's own sex!
Of course Mrs. Vivian's influence--that 's the great thing.
Mamma said it was like the odor of a flower. But you don't
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