| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Weir of Hermiston by Robert Louis Stevenson: "Think shame to yersel', miss!" said the strident Mrs. Hob. "Is this
the gait to guide yersel' on the way hame frae kirk? You're shiirely
no sponsible the day! And anyway I would mind my guid claes."
"Hoot!" said Christina, and went on before them head in air, treading
the rough track with the tread of a wild doe.
She was in love with herself, her destiny, the air of the hills, the
benediction of the sun. All the way home, she continued under the
intoxication of these sky-scraping spirits. At table she could talk
freely of young Hermiston; gave her opinion of him off-hand and with a
loud voice, that he was a handsome young gentleman, real well mannered
and sensible-like, but it was a pity he looked doleful. Only - the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lucile by Owen Meredith: Posterity's path, not the less would have dwelt
In the isle with Miranda, with Hamlet have felt
All that Hamlet hath uttered, and haply where, pure
On its death-bed, wrong'd Love lay, have moan'd with the Moor!
II.
When Lord Alfred that night to the salon return'd
He found it deserted. The lamp dimly burn'd
As though half out of humor to find itself there
Forced to light for no purpose a room that was bare.
He sat down by the window alone. Never yet
Did the heavens a lovelier evening beget
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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 Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Sir John Mandeville: they shall believe, right so the images and the paintings teach the
lewd folk to worship the saints and to have them in their mind, in
whose names that the images be made after. They say also, that the
angels of God speak to them in those idols, and that they do many
great miracles. And they say sooth, that there is an angel within
them. For there be two manner of angels, a good and an evil, as
the Greeks say, Cacho and Calo. This Cacho is the wicked angel,
and Calo is the good angel. But the tother is not the good angel,
but the wicked angel that is within the idols to deceive them and
for to maintain them in their error.
There be many other divers countries and many other marvels beyond,
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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 Letters of Two Brides by Honore de Balzac: able either to resist you or find fault with you. A single glance from
you, a single coaxing word, would melt his sternest resolution. Sooner
or later, you will learn to scorn this excessive devotion. He spoils
you, alas! just as I used to spoil you at the convent, for you are a
most bewitching woman, and there is no escaping your siren-like
charms.
Worse than all, you are candid, and it often happens that our
happiness depends on certain social hypocrisies to which you will
never stoop. For instance, society will not tolerate a frank display
of the wife's power over her husband. The convention is that a man
must no more show himself the lover of his wife, however passionately
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