| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ferragus by Honore de Balzac: "We shall agree. Do not give yourself the trouble to tell falsehoods,
madame," he resumed, "In the first place, let me tell you that I mean
no harm either to you or to your lodger who is suffering from cautery,
or to your daughter Ida, a stay-maker, the friend of Ferragus. You
see, I know all your affairs. Do not be uneasy; I am not a detective
policeman, nor do I desire anything that can hurt your conscience. A
young lady will come here to-morrow-morning at half-past nine o'clock,
to talk with this lover of your daughter. I want to be where I can see
all and hear all, without being seen or heard by them. If you will
furnish me with the means of doing so, I will reward that service with
the gift of two thousand francs and a yearly stipend of six hundred.
Ferragus |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: which in him was a mark of perplexity. After dinner I
went into my stateroom as if I meant to take some rest.
There we two bent our dark heads over a half-unrolled chart
lying on my bed.
"There," I said. "It's got to be Koh-ring. I've been looking
at it ever since sunrise. It has got two hills and a low point.
It must be inhabited. And on the coast opposite there is what looks
like the mouth of a biggish river--with some towns, no doubt, not far up.
It's the best chance for you that I can see."
"Anything. Koh-ring let it be."
He looked thoughtfully at the chart as if surveying chances and
The Secret Sharer |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Extracts From Adam's Diary by Mark Twain: front legs and long hind ones indicate that it is of the kangaroo
family, but it is a marked variation of the species, since the
true kangaroo hops, whereas this one never does. Still, it is a
curious and interesting variety, and has not been catalogued before.
As I discovered it, I have felt justified in securing the credit
of the discovery by attaching my name to it, and hence have called
it Kangaroorum Adamiensis. ... It must have been a young one
when it came, for it has grown exceedingly since. It must be five
times as big, now, as it was then, and when discontented is able
to make from twenty-two to thirty-eight times the noise it made
at first. Coercion does not modify this, but has the contrary
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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 The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: venereal disease? Or their mutual quarrels in verse and prose of
Whig and Tory, wherewith the stars have little to do?
Having long observed and lamented these, and a hundred other
abuses of this art, too tedious to repeat, I resolved to proceed
in a new way, which I doubt not will be to the general
satisfaction of the kingdom: I can this year produce but a
specimen of what I design for the future; having employ'd most
part of my time in adjusting and correcting the calculations I
made some years past, because I would offer nothing to the world
of which I am not as fully satisfied, as that I am now alive. For
these two last years I have not failed in above one or two
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