| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ursula by Honore de Balzac: godchild in his arms and kissing her on both cheeks. "It was for her
and not for myself, oh God! that I besought thee just now to let me
live until the day I give her to some good being who is worthy of her!
--You will see comedies, my little angel, comedies which the Minorets
and Cremieres and Massins will come and play here. You want to
brighten and prolong my life; they are longing for my death."
"God forbids us to hate any one, but if that is-- Ah! I despise them!"
exclaimed Ursula.
"Dinner is ready!" called La Bougival from the portico, which, on the
garden side, was at the end of the corridor.
CHAPTER IX
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from God The Invisible King by H. G. Wells: Think of the Dinosaurs and the expenditure of creative energy that
went to their differentiation and their wellnigh incredible physical
development. . . .
"To such a Divine Force as we postulate, the whole development and
perfecting of life on this planet, the whole production of man, may
seem little more than to any one of us would be the chipping out,
the cutting, the carving, and the polishing of a gem; and we should
feel as little remorse or pity for the scattered dust and fragments
as must the Creative Force of the immeasurably vast universe feel
for the DISJECTA MEMBRA of perfected life on this planet. . . ."
But thence he goes on to a curiously imperfect treatment of the God
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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 Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock: Here's blood that would have served me these seven years,
in broken heads and cut fingers, and now it runs out
all together.--MIDDLETON. Roaring Girl.
Prince John sat down impatiently before Arlingford castle in the hope
of starving out the besieged; but finding the duration of their supplies
extend itself in an equal ratio with the prolongation of his hope,
he made vigorous preparations for carrying the place by storm.
He constructed an immense machine on wheels, which, being advanced
to the edge of the moat, would lower a temporary bridge, of which
one end would rest on the bank, and the other on the battlements,
and which, being well furnished with stepping boards, would enable
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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 Island Nights' Entertainments by Robert Louis Stevenson: Thereupon he called to mind it was the next day the HALL went by on
her return to Honolulu. "There must I go first," he thought, "and
see Lopaka. For the best hope that I have now is to find that same
bottle I was so pleased to be rid of."
Never a wink could he sleep; the food stuck in his throat; but he
sent a letter to Kiano, and about the time when the steamer would
be coming, rode down beside the cliff of the tombs. It rained; his
horse went heavily; he looked up at the black mouths of the caves,
and he envied the dead that slept there and were done with trouble;
and called to mind how he had galloped by the day before, and was
astonished. So he came down to Hookena, and there was all the
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