| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lay Morals by Robert Louis Stevenson: the size, the taste, and the comfort of your home. It would
have been news certainly to myself, had any one told me that
afternoon that I should live to drag such matter into print.
But you see, sir, how you degrade better men to your own
level; and it is needful that those who are to judge betwixt
you and me, betwixt Damien and the devil's advocate, should
understand your letter to have been penned in a house which
could raise, and that very justly, the envy and the comments
of the passers-by. I think (to employ a phrase of yours
which I admire) it 'should be attributed' to you that you
have never visited the scene of Damien's life and death. If
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Chronicles of the Canongate by Walter Scott: to those around that he only complied with the old woman to
soothe her humour. In the meantime, she traced around him, with
wavering steps, the propitiation, which some have thought has
been derived from the Druidical mythology. It consists, as is
well known, in the person who makes the DEASIL walking three
times round the person who is the object of the ceremony, taking
care to move according to the course of the sun. At once,
however, she stopped short, and exclaimed, in a voice of alarm
and horror, "Grandson of my father, there is blood on your hand."
"Hush, for God's sake, aunt!" said Robin Oig. "You will bring
more trouble on yourself with this TAISHATARAGH" (second sight)
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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 Hated Son by Honore de Balzac: holding public offices and the government of a province, lived the
life of a prince; the cadets of his family did not revolt at serving
him. He had his household guard and officers; the first lieutenant of
his ordnance company was to him what, in our day, an aide-de-camp is
to a marshal. A few years later, Cardinal de Richelieu had his body-
guard. Several princes allied to the royal house--Guise, Conde,
Nevers, and Vendome, etc.--had pages chosen among the sons of the best
families,--a last lingering custom of departed chivalry. The wealth of
the Duc d'Herouville, and the antiquity of his Norman race indicated
by his name ("herus villoe"), permitted him to imitate the
magnificence of families who were in other respects his inferiors,--
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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 Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: can never dye, without serious danger, red or white hair. But in
advertising the benefits of oil you commit no mistake, you tell no
falsehood, and I think that those who use it will probably preserve
their hair."
"Do you think that the royal Academy of Sciences would approve of--"
"Oh! there is no discovery in all that," said Vauquelin. "Besides,
charlatans have so abused the name of the Academy that it would not
help you much. My conscience will not allow me to think the oil of
nuts a prodigy."
"What would be the best way to extract it; by pressure, or decoction?"
asked Birotteau.
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |
