| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Red Seal by Natalie Sumner Lincoln: himself, but business had kept him in the West and he had cabled
to a spinster cousin to chaperon them on the trip across the
Atlantic Ocean. Nor had he reached New York in time to see them
disembark, and thus had missed meeting Mrs. Brewster, then in
her first year of widowhood.
The friendship between the twins and Mrs. Brewster had been kept
up through much correspondence, and the widow had finally promised,
to come to Washington for their debut, visiting her cousins, Dr.
and Mrs. Stone. The meeting had but cemented the friendship between
them, and at the twins' urgent request, seconded with warmth by
Colonel McIntyre, she had promised to spend the month of April at
The Red Seal |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Royalty Restored/London Under Charles II by J. Fitzgerald Molloy: his loyal subjects were no less pleased with him than he with
them; and in faith he was sorry, he declared, in that delicate
strain of irony that ran like a bright thread throughout the
whole pattern of his speech, he had not come over before, for
every man he encountered was glad to see him.
Day after day, week after week, the Palace of Whitehall presented
a scene of ceaseless bustle. Courtiers, ambassadors,
politicians, soldiers, and citizens crowded the antechambers,
flocked through the galleries, and tarried in the courtyards.
Deputations from all the shires and chief towns in the three
kingdoms, bearing messages of congratulation and loyalty, were
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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 At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: happiness, since she was the cause of her present wretchedness.
So one day Augustine, timid as she was, but armed with supernatural
courage, got into her carriage at two in the afternoon to try for
admittance to the boudoir of the famous coquette, who was never
visible till that hour. Madame de Sommervieux had not yet seen any of
the ancient and magnificent mansions of the Faubourg Saint-Germain. As
she made her way through the stately corridors, the handsome
staircases, the vast drawing-rooms--full of flowers, though it was in
the depth of winter, and decorated with the taste peculiar to women
born to opulence or to the elegant habits of the aristocracy,
Augustine felt a terrible clutch at her heart; she coveted the secrets
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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 Alexandria and her Schools by Charles Kingsley: and they so seldom? If brain alone were what was wanted, what could not
Aristotle have discovered? Or is it that no man can see a thing unless
God shows it him? Is it that in each separate act of induction, that
mysterious and transcendental process which cannot, let logicians try as
they will, be expressed by any merely logical formula, Aristotelian or
other--is it I say, that in each separate act of induction we do not
find the law, but the law is shown to us, by Him who made the law?
Bacon thought so. Of that you may find clear proof in his writings.
May not Bacon be right? May it not be true that God does in science, as
well as in ethics, hide things from the wise and prudent, from the
proud, complete, self-contained systematiser like Aristotle, who must
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