| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lock and Key Library by Julian Hawthorne, Ed.: loud, unpleasant bell, and made a very disagreeable sound. The
other bells were inscribed according to the names of the rooms to
which their wires were conducted: as "Picture Room," "Double Room,"
"Clock Room," and the like. Following Master B.'s bell to its
source I found that young gentleman to have had but indifferent
third-class accommodation in a triangular cabin under the cock-
loft, with a corner fireplace which Master B. must have been
exceedingly small if he were ever able to warm himself at, and a
corner chimney-piece like a pyramidal staircase to the ceiling for
Tom Thumb. The papering of one side of the room had dropped down
bodily, with fragments of plaster adhering to it, and almost
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: the hills till they reached the heights, and she gave a cry of
admiration.
"They loved by the lakes! /She/ lives by a lake! A lake is certainly
full of love!" she thought.
A lake fed by snows has opalescent colors and a translucency that
makes it one huge diamond; but when it is shut in like that of les
Rouxey, between two granite masses covered with pines, when silence
broods over it like that of the Savannas or the Steppes, then every
one must exclaim as Rosalie did.
"We owe that," said her father, "to the notorious Watteville."
"On my word," said the girl, "he did his best to earn forgiveness. Let
Albert Savarus |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Several Works by Edgar Allan Poe: ugh!--ugh! ugh! ugh!"
My poor friend found it impossible to reply for many minutes.
"It is nothing," he said, at last.
"Come," I said, with decision, "we will go back; your health
is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are
happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no
matter. We will go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be
responsible. Besides, there is Luchesi--"
"Enough," he said; "the cough is a mere nothing; it will not
kill me. I shall not die of a cough."
"True--true," I replied; "and, indeed, I had no intention of
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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 The Iliad by Homer: one another. Pisander struck the peak of Menelaus's crested
helmet just under the crest itself, and Menelaus hit Pisander as
he was coming towards him, on the forehead, just at the rise of
his nose; the bones cracked and his two gore-bedrabbled eyes fell
by his feet in the dust. He fell backwards to the ground, and
Menelaus set his heel upon him, stripped him of his armour, and
vaunted over him saying, "Even thus shall you Trojans leave the
ships of the Achaeans, proud and insatiate of battle though you
be, nor shall you lack any of the disgrace and shame which you
have heaped upon myself. Cowardly she-wolves that you are, you
feared not the anger of dread Jove, avenger of violated
The Iliad |
