| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: historic units (battles, campaigns, periods of war) into such
equations, a series of numbers could be obtained in which certain laws
should exist and might be discovered.
The tactical rule that an army should act in masses when
attacking, and in smaller groups in retreat, unconsciously confirms
the truth that the strength of an army depends on its spirit. To
lead men forward under fire more discipline (obtainable only by
movement in masses) is needed than is needed to resist attacks. But
this rule which leaves out of account the spirit of the army
continually proves incorrect and is in particularly striking
contrast to the facts when some strong rise or fall in the spirit of
War and Peace |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen: to speak with me, at least I understood her so--or I
certainly should not have intruded on you in such a manner;
though at the same time, I should have been extremely
sorry to leave London without seeing you and your sister;
especially as it will most likely be some time--it
is not probable that I should soon have the pleasure
of meeting you again. I go to Oxford tomorrow."
"You would not have gone, however," said Elinor,
recovering herself, and determined to get over what she
so much dreaded as soon as possible, "without receiving
our good wishes, even if we had not been able to give them
Sense and Sensibility |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: misplaced, and found a thousand-franc note in it. I promised myself
that I would go through everything thoroughly; I would try the
ceilings, and floors, and walls, and cornices to discover all the
gold, hoarded with such passionate greed by a Dutch miser worthy of a
Rembrandt's brush. In all the course of my professional career I have
never seen such impressive signs of the eccentricity of avarice.
"I went back to his room, and found an explanation of this chaos and
accumulation of riches in a pile of letters lying under the paper-
weights on his desk--Gobseck's correspondence with the various dealers
to whom doubtless he usually sold his presents. These persons had,
perhaps, fallen victims to Gobseck's cleverness, or Gobseck may have
Gobseck |
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 from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: thoroughly does an English maid understand her business. We were
shown on our arrival into a charming room, semi-library.
In a few minutes a servant came to show me to my apartment, which
was very superb, with a comfortable dressing-room and fire for Mr.
Bancroft, where the faithful Keats unpacked his dressing materials,
while I was in a few moments seated at the toilet to undergo my
hair-dressing, surrounded by all my apparatus, and a blazing fire to
welcome me with a hissing tea-kettle of hot water and every comfort.
How well the English understand it, I learn more and more every day.
My maid had a large room above me, also with a fire; indeed, a
"lady's" maid is a VERY GREAT character INDEED, and would be much
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