| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: there you are to plant the poplars I have bought. Plant 'em there, and
they'll get nourishment from the government," he said, turning to
Cruchot, and giving a slight motion to the wen on his nose, which
expressed more than the most ironical of smiles.
"True enough; poplars should only be planted on poor soil," said
Cruchot, amazed at Grandet's calculations.
"Y-y-yes, monsieur," answered the old man satirically.
Eugenie, who was gazing at the sublime scenery of the Loire, and
paying no attention to her father's reckonings, presently turned an
ear to the remarks of Cruchot when she heard him say,--
"So you have brought a son-in-law from Paris. All Saumur is talking
Eugenie Grandet |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer: burrow-like alleys into the glare of the lamps upon the main road.
In the short space of the drive we had passed from the bright world
of the West into the dubious underworld of the East.
I do not know that Karamaneh moved; but in sympathy, as we neared
the abode of the sinister Chinaman, she crept nearer to me,
and when the cab was discharged, and together we walked down
a narrow turning leading riverward, she clung to me fearfully,
hesitated, and even seemed upon the point of turning back.
But, overcoming her fear or repugnance, she led on, through a maze
of alleyways and courts, wherein I hopelessly lost my bearings,
so that it came home to me how wholly I was in the hands of this
The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Mrs. Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw: zealously; and I can assure Mr Grein that she is often leniently
dealt with because she has conducted her business "respectably"
and held herself above its vilest branches. The degrees in
infamy are as numerous and as scrupulously observed as the
degrees in the peerage: the moralist's notion that there are
depths at which the moral atmosphere ceases is as delusive as the
rich man's notion that there are no social jealousies or
snobberies among the very poor. No: had I drawn Mrs Warren as a
fiend in human form, the very people who now rebuke me for
flattering her would probably be the first to deride me for
deducing her character logically from occupation instead of
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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 Pupil by Henry James: contribution to it was merely that she had thought all the while
they were getting on so beautifully. Pemberton's reply to this
revelation was that unless they immediately put down something on
account he would leave them on the spot and for ever. He knew she
would wonder how he would get away, and for a moment expected her
to enquire. She didn't, for which he was almost grateful to her,
so little was he in a position to tell.
"You won't, you KNOW you won't - you're too interested," she said.
"You are interested, you know you are, you dear kind man!" She
laughed with almost condemnatory archness, as if it were a reproach
- though she wouldn't insist; and flirted a soiled pocket-
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