| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Bureaucracy by Honore de Balzac: the sides of the room, at the end of which sparkled the brass
arabesques inlaid in tortoise-shell of the first tall clock that
reappeared in the nineteenth century to claim honor for the
masterpieces of the seventeenth. Flowers perfumed these rooms so full
of good taste and of exquisite things, where each detail was a work of
art well placed and well surrounded, and where Madame Rabourdin,
dressed with that natural simplicity which artists alone attain, gave
the impression of a woman accustomed to such elegancies, though she
never spoke of them, but allowed the charms of her mind to complete
the effect produced upon her guests by these delightful surroundings.
Thanks to her father, Celestine was able to make society talk of her
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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 Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: little discomposed at the oddness of the accident. In the mean
time one knocks at my door, Betty runs down, and opening, finds a
sober grave person, who modestly enquires if this was Dr.
Partridge's? She taking him for some cautious city-patient, that
came at that time for privacy, shews him into the dining room. As
soon as I could compose myself, I went to him, and was surprized
to find my gentleman mounted on a table with a two-foot rule in
his hand, measuring my walls, and taking the dimensions of the
room. Pray sir, says I, not to interrupt you, have you any
business with me? Only, sir, replies he, order the girl to bring
me a better light, for this is but a very dim one. Sir, says I,
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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 Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas: The eyes of D'Artagnan regained their gayety and their
brilliancy. The Gascon began to understand. Charles advanced
towards him.
"The general," said he, "is not rich, and cannot pay you
what he is worth. I am richer, certainly, but now that he is
a duke, and if not a king, almost a king, he is worth a sum
I could not perhaps pay. Come, M. d'Artagnan, be moderate
with me; how much do I owe you?"
D'Artagnan, delighted at the turn things were taking, but
not for a moment losing his self-possession, replied, --
"Sire, your majesty has no occasion to be alarmed. When I
Ten Years Later |
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 A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne: FILLE DE CHAMBRE, without saying a word, took out her little
housewife, threaded a small needle, and sew'd it up. - I foresaw it
would hazard the glory of the day; and, as she pass'd her hand in
silence across and across my neck in the manoeuvre, I felt the
laurels shake which fancy had wreath'd about my head.
A strap had given way in her walk, and the buckle of her shoe was
just falling off. - See, said the FILLE DE CHAMBRE, holding up her
foot. - I could not, for my soul but fasten the buckle in return,
and putting in the strap, - and lifting up the other foot with it,
when I had done, to see both were right, - in doing it too
suddenly, it unavoidably threw the fair FILLE DE CHAMBRE off her
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