| 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: like the most exquisite poetry. He swore that, even were you right in
your predictions, he would not exchange for a lifetime a single one of
our blessed nights or charming mornings. At this reckoning he has
already lived a thousand years. He is content to have me for his
mistress, and would claim no other title than that of lover. So proud
and pleased is he to see himself every day the chosen of my heart,
that were Heaven to offer him the alternative between living as you
would have us to for another thirty years with five children, and five
years spent amid the dear roses of our love, he would not hesitate. He
would take my love, such as it is, and death.
While he was whispering this in my ear, his arm round me, my head
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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 Wrecker by Stevenson & Osbourne: but after twenty years, the embers of shame are still alive; and I
prefer to give your imagination the cue, by simply mentioning
that my muse was the patriotic. It had been my design to
adjourn for coffee in the company of some of these new friends;
but I was no sooner on the sidewalk than I found myself
unaccountably alone. The circumstance scarce surprised me at
the time, much less now; but I was somewhat chagrined a little
after to find I had walked into a kiosque. I began to wonder if I
were any the worse for my last bottle, and decided to steady
myself with coffee and brandy. In the Cafe de la Source, where
I went for this restorative, the fountain was playing, and (what
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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 Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: his new enemy had leaped from his path Tarzan had driven
his iron-shod spear from behind the massive shoulder straight
into the fierce heart, and the colossal pachyderm had toppled
to his death at the feet of the ape-man.
Busuli had not beheld the manner of his deliverance, but
Waziri, the old chief, had seen, and several of the other
warriors, and they hailed Tarzan with delight as they swarmed
about him and his great kill. When he leaped upon the mighty
carcass, and gave voice to the weird challenge with which he
announced a great victory, the blacks shrank back in fear,
for to them it marked the brutal Bolgani, whom they feared
The Return of Tarzan |
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 Songs of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: The belching winter wind, the missile rain,
The rare and welcome silence of the snows,
The laggard morn, the haggard day, the night,
The grimy spell of the nocturnal town,
Do you remember? - Ah, could one forget!
As when the fevered sick that all night long
Listed the wind intone, and hear at last
The ever-welcome voice of chanticleer
Sing in the bitter hour before the dawn, -
With sudden ardour, these desire the day:
So sang in the gloom of youth the bird of hope;
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