| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from King Lear by William Shakespeare: My
cue is villainous melancholy, with a sigh like Tom o'
Bedlam.
O, these eclipses do portend these divisions! Fa, sol, la,
mi.
Edg. How now, brother Edmund? What serious contemplation are
you
in?
Edm. I am thinking, brother, of a prediction I read this other
day,
what should follow these eclipses.
King Lear |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Collection of Antiquities by Honore de Balzac: he should feel its weight, and disappear the sooner. For de Marsay was
jealous; the Duchess flaunted her love affair; she was not at home to
other visitors when d'Esgrignon was with her. And besides, de Marsay
was one of those savage humorists who delight in mischief, as Turkish
women in the bath. So when he had carried off the prize, and bets were
settled at the tavern where they breakfasted, and a bottle or two of
good wine had appeared, de Marsay turned to d'Esgrignon with a laugh:
"Those bills that you are worrying over are not yours, I am sure."
"Eh! if they weren't, why should he worry himself?" asked Rastignac.
"And whose should they be?" d'Esgrignon inquired.
"Then you do not know the Duchess' position?" queried de Marsay, as he
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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 Bab:A Sub-Deb, Mary Roberts Rinehart by Mary Roberts Rinehart: Barbara, all right. And If you think you're going to slip
downstairs tonight after dinner and WORM yourself into this party,
I'll show you."
She flounsed out, and shortly afterwards mother took a minute from
the Florest, and came upstairs.
"I do hope you are not going to be troublesome, Barbara," she said.
"You are too young to understand, but I want everything to go well
tonight, and Leila ought not to be worried."
"Can't I dance a little?"
"You can sit on the stairs and watch." She looked fidgity. "I--I'll
send up a nice dinner, and you can put on your dark blue, with a
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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 Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, etc. by Oscar Wilde: Canterville Chase. Mrs. Otis, who, as Miss Lucretia R. Tappan, of
West 53rd Street, had been a celebrated New York belle, was now a
very handsome, middle-aged woman, with fine eyes, and a superb
profile. Many American ladies on leaving their native land adopt
an appearance of chronic ill-health, under the impression that it
is a form of European refinement, but Mrs. Otis had never fallen
into this error. She had a magnificent constitution, and a really
wonderful amount of animal spirits. Indeed, in many respects, she
was quite English, and was an excellent example of the fact that we
have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of
course, language. Her eldest son, christened Washington by his
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