| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas: time? I sink, I am going, I shall never reach it! And yet,
who knows that I may not find two or three millions in the
pockets of my good friends the Spaniards? They discovered
Peru, those people did, and -- what the devil! they must
have something left."
As he was speaking thus, entirely occupied with his ciphers,
and thinking no more of his gout, repelled by a
preoccupation which, with the cardinal, was the most
powerful of all preoccupations, Bernouin rushed into the
chamber, quite in a fright.
"Well!" asked the cardinal, "what is the matter now?"
Ten Years Later |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Betty Zane by Zane Grey: hunter trembled, but it was from eagerness. Was not Girty, the white savage,
the bane of the poor settlers, within range of a weapon that never failed? Was
not the murderous chieftain, who had once whipped and tortured him, who had
burned Crawford alive, there in plain sight? Wetzel revelled a moment in
fiendish glee. He passed his hands tenderly over the long barrel of his rifle.
In that moment as never before he gloried in his power--a power which enabled
him to put a bullet in the eye of a squirrel at the distance these men were
from him. But only for an instant did the hunter yield to this feeling. He
knew too well the value of time and opportunity.
He rose again to his feet and peered out from under the shading laurel
branches. As he did so the dark face of Miller turned full toward him. A
Betty Zane |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Recruit by Honore de Balzac: you and I may be risking our heads on the scaffold. I have too long
observed your character, your soul, your manners, to share the error
into which you have persuaded your friends this evening. You are, I
cannot doubt, expecting your son."
The countess made a gesture of denial; but she had turned pale, the
muscles of her face contracted from the effort that she made to
exhibit firmness, and the implacable eye of the public prosecutor lost
none of her movements.
"Well, receive him," continued the functionary of the Revolution, "but
do not keep him under your roof later than seven o'clock in the
morning. To-morrow, at eight, I shall be at your door with a
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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 Plutarch's Lives by A. H. Clough: Sicily from her oppressors, but he willingly surrendered it.
It is truly worthy our admiration in Aemilius, that, though he conquered
so great and so rich a realm as that of Macedon, yet he would not touch,
nor see any of the money, nor did he advantage himself one farthing by
it, though he was very generous of his own to others. I would not intend
any reflection on Timoleon, for accepting of a house and handsome estate
in the country, which the Syracusans presented him with; there is no
dishonor in accepting; but yet there is greater glory in a refusal, and
the supremest virtue is shown in not wanting what it might fairly take.
And as that body is, without doubt, the most strong and healthful, which
can the easiest support extreme cold and excessive heat in the change of
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