| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Letters of Two Brides by Honore de Balzac: all the more brightly because the white facade of the house reflected
the moonlight. The contrast seemed, as it were, an emblem of our
clandestine love leading up to the glaring publicity of a wedding.
Neither of us could do more at first than drink in silently the
ecstasy of a moment, as new and marvelous for him as for me. At last I
found tongue to say, pointing to the elm-tree:
"Although I am not afraid of scandal, you shall not climb that tree
again. We have long enough played schoolboy and schoolgirl, let us
rise now to the height of our destiny. Had that fall killed you, I
should have died disgraced . . ."
I looked at him. Every scrap of color had left his face.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from 'Twixt Land & Sea by Joseph Conrad: temptation of making an end of it all without further trouble was
irresistible. She gave an almost imperceptible nod of assent, and
glided away.
"Hurry up that brandy!" old Nelson shouted, as she disappeared in
the passage.
Heemskirk relieved his deeper feelings by a sudden string of curses
in Dutch and English which he sent after her. He raved to his
heart's content, flinging to and fro the verandah and kicking
chairs out of his way; while Nelson (or Nielsen), whose sympathy
was profoundly stirred by these evidences of agonising pain,
hovered round his dear (and dreaded) lieutenant, fussing like an
'Twixt Land & Sea |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: a handkerchief."
When Kostanzhoglo appeared at closer quarters--that is to say, in the
doorway of the drawing-room--he struck Chichikov more than ever with
the swarthiness of his complexion, the dishevelment of his black,
slightly grizzled locks, the alertness of his eye, and the impression
of fiery southern origin which his whole personality diffused. For he
was not wholly a Russian, nor could he himself say precisely who his
forefathers had been. Yet, inasmuch as he accounted genealogical
research no part of the science of estate-management, but a mere
superfluity, he looked upon himself as, to all intents and purposes, a
native of Russia, and the more so since the Russian language was the
Dead Souls |
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 Euthydemus by Plato: consolation of knowing that they began this art of disputation which I
covet, quite, as I may say, in old age; last year, or the year before, they
had none of their new wisdom. I am only apprehensive that I may bring the
two strangers into disrepute, as I have done Connus the son of Metrobius,
the harp-player, who is still my music-master; for when the boys who go to
him see me going with them, they laugh at me and call him grandpapa's
master. Now I should not like the strangers to experience similar
treatment; the fear of ridicule may make them unwilling to receive me; and
therefore, Crito, I shall try and persuade some old men to accompany me to
them, as I persuaded them to go with me to Connus, and I hope that you will
make one: and perhaps we had better take your sons as a bait; they will
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