| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Twilight Land by Howard Pyle: "Long live the queen! Long live the king!"
The princess turned to the captain of the guards. "You have
offered your services to my husband," said she; "his commands and
my commands are that you march to the palace and cast out him who
hath no right there."
"It shall be done," said the captain of the guards.
All the troops were up in arms, and the town was full of tumult
and confusion. About midnight they brought the false king before
King Beppo and the queen. The false king stood there trembling
like a leaf. The queen stood gazing at him steadily. "Behold,
this is the husband that thou gavest me," said she. "It is as I
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Massimilla Doni by Honore de Balzac: Venice; she always sat where the light from the stage fell on her
face, so that her handsome head, softly illuminated, stood out against
the dark background. The Florentine attracted every gaze by her broad,
high brow, as white as snow, crowned with plaits of black hair that
gave her a really royal look; by the refinement of her features,
resembling the noble features of Andrea del Sarto's heads; by the
outline of her face, the setting of her eyes; and by those velvet eyes
themselves, which spoke of the rapture of a woman dreaming of
happiness, still pure though loving, at once attractive and dignified.
Instead of /Mose/, in which la Tinti was to have appeared with
Genovese, /Il Barbiere/ was given, and the tenor was to sing without
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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 Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells: I ran near the water's edge, and heard every now and then the splash
of the feet that gained upon me. Far away, hopelessly far,
was the yellow light. All the night about us was black and still.
Splash, splash, came the pursuing feet, nearer and nearer.
I felt my breath going, for I was quite out of training; it whooped
as I drew it, and I felt a pain like a knife at my side. I perceived
the Thing would come up with me long before I reached the enclosure,
and, desperate and sobbing for my breath, I wheeled round upon it
and struck at it as it came up to me,--struck with all my strength.
The stone came out of the sling of the handkerchief as I did so.
As I turned, the Thing, which had been running on all-fours,
The Island of Doctor Moreau |
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 A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: lady confined herself in answer to a single word. "Is your husband
near Apia?" "Yes." "Is he far from Apia?" "Yes." "Is he with the
king?" "Yes." "Are he and the king in different places?" "Yes."
Whereupon the witness was discharged. About the 10th of September,
Laupepa was secretly in Apia at the American consulate with two
companions. The German pickets were close set and visited by a
strong patrol; and on his return, his party was observed and hailed
and fired on by a sentry. They ran away on all fours in the dark,
and so doing plumped upon another sentry, whom Laupepa grappled and
flung in a ditch; for the Sheet of Paper, although infirm of
character, is, like most Samoans, of an able body. The second
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