| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Madame Firmiani by Honore de Balzac: taciturn, and when they talk it is only about Spain, Vienna, Italy, or
Petersburg. Names of countries act like springs in their mind; press
them, and the ringing of their changes begins.
"That Madame Firmiani sees a great deal of the faubourg Saint-Germain,
doesn't she?" This from a person who desires to belong to the class
Distinguished. She gives the "de" to everybody,--to Monsieur Dupin
senior, to Monsieur Lafayette; she flings it right and left and
humiliates many. This woman spends her life in striving to know and do
"the right thing"; but, for her sins, she lives in a the Marais, and
her husband is a lawyer,--a lawyer before the Royal courts, however.
"Madame Firmiani, monsieur? I do not know her." This man belongs to
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Lesser Bourgeoisie by Honore de Balzac: the value of which I am confident you will not underestimate. The
'Echo de la Bievre,' a specialist paper, can have a decisive influence
on the election in that quarter."
"And you would be disposed," asked la Peyrade, "to make that paper
support Monsieur Thuillier's candidacy?"
"Better than that," replied Lousteau. "I have come to propose to
Monsieur Thuillier that he purchase the paper itself. Once the
proprietor of it he can use it as he pleases."
"But in the first place," said la Peyrade, "what is the present
condition of the enterprise? In its character as a specialist journal
--as you called it just now--it is a sheet I have seldom met with; in
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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 Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin: better way, to let it be printed for the future under the name
of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN; and to avoid the censure of the Assembly,
that might fall on him as still printing it by his apprentice,
the contrivance was that my old indenture should be return'd to me,
with a full discharge on the back of it, to be shown on occasion,
but to secure to him the benefit of my service, I was to sign new
indentures for the remainder of the term, which were to be kept private.
A very flimsy scheme it was; however, it was immediately executed,
and the paper went on accordingly, under my name for several months.
At length, a fresh difference arising between my brother and me,
I took upon me to assert my freedom, presuming that he would not
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |
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 Ursula by Honore de Balzac: never entered and about which no one had ever spoken to her.
"By what means can these singular apparitions take place?" asked
Ursula. "What did my godfather think?"
"Your godfather, my dear child, argued my hypothesis. He recognized
the possibility of a spiritual world, a world of ideas. If ideas are
of man's creation, if they subsist in a life of their own, they must
have forms which our external senses cannot grasp, but which are
perceptible to our inward senses when brought under certain
conditions. Thus your godfather's ideas might so enfold you that you
would clothe them with his bodily presence. Then, if Minoret really
committed those actions, they too resolve themselves into ideas; for
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