| 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: this routine gives rise either to pain or to pleasure, both of which
are a mere fever of the soul, bound to be fugitive because nature is
not so framed as to support it long. But to make of life one long
excess is surely to choose sickness for one's portion. You are sick
because you maintain at the temperature of passion a feeling which
marriage ought to convert into a steadying, purifying influence.
Yes, my sweet, I see it clearly now; the glory of a home consists in
this very calm, this intimacy, this sharing alike of good and evil,
which the vulgar ridicule. How noble was the reply of the Duchesse de
Sully, the wife of the great Sully, to some one who remarked that her
husband, for all his grave exterior, did not scruple to keep a
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Royalty Restored/London Under Charles II by J. Fitzgerald Molloy: Monsieur Mazarine took occasion to seize upon them."
She therefore sought the king's interference, but as the duke had
interest at court, she received but little satisfaction. Then
commenced disputes, which, after months of wrangling, ended by
the duchess escaping in male attire out of France, in company
with a gay young cavalier, Monsieur de Rohan. After various
wanderings through Italy and many adventures in Savoy, she
determined on journeying to England. That her visit was not
without a political motive, we gather from St. Evremond; who,
referring to the ascendancy which the Duchess of Portsmouth had
gained over his majesty, and the uses she made of her power for
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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 Enchanted Island of Yew by L. Frank Baum: decreed your death--and die you shall!"
For a moment his eye roved around the chamber uncertainly. Then he
shouted, suddenly:
"Ho, there! Keepers of the royal menagerie--appear!"
Three men entered the room and bowed before the king. They were of
the Gray Men of the mountains, who had followed Prince Marvel and
Nerle through the rocky passes.
"Bring hither the Royal Dragon," cried the king, "and let him consume
these strangers before my very eyes!"
The men withdrew, and presently was heard a distant shouting, followed
by a low rumbling sound, with groans, snorts, roars and a hissing like
The Enchanted Island of Yew |
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 Tono Bungay by H. G. Wells: exams with, but there you are!"
"You'll have to learn Latin because you have to learn Latin,"
said my mother, "not because you want to. And afterwards you
will have to learn all sorts of other things...."
The idea that I was to go on learning, that to read and master
the contents of books was still to be justifiable as a duty,
overwhelmed all other facts. I had had it rather clear in my
mind for some weeks that all that kind of opportunity might close
to me for ever. I began to take a lively interest in this new
project.
"Then shall I live here?" I asked, "with you, and study... as
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