| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Critias by Plato: stadium only in width. The island in which the palace was situated had a
diameter of five stadia. All this including the zones and the bridge,
which was the sixth part of a stadium in width, they surrounded by a stone
wall on every side, placing towers and gates on the bridges where the sea
passed in. The stone which was used in the work they quarried from
underneath the centre island, and from underneath the zones, on the outer
as well as the inner side. One kind was white, another black, and a third
red, and as they quarried, they at the same time hollowed out double docks,
having roofs formed out of the native rock. Some of their buildings were
simple, but in others they put together different stones, varying the
colour to please the eye, and to be a natural source of delight. 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 Rezanov by Gertrude Atherton: The warlike tribes themselves had trodden paths
through the dense undergrowth of young trees and
ferns. Rezanov, despite Baranhov's warning, had
tramped the forest many times. It was the one
thing that reconciled him to Sitka, for there are
few woods more beautiful. In spite or because of
the incessant rains, it is pervaded by a rich golden
gloom, the result of the constant rotting of the
brown and yellow bark, not only of the prostrate
trees, but of the many killed by crowding and un-
able to seek the earth with the natural instinct of
Rezanov |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from In the Cage by Henry James: saw his way. A rise at Chalk Farm had been offered him; he was to
be taken into the business, bringing with him a capital the
estimation of which by other parties constituted the handsomest
recognition yet made of the head on his shoulders. Therefore their
waiting was over--it could be a question of a near date. They
would settle this date before going back, and he meanwhile had his
eye on a sweet little home. He would take her to see it on their
first Sunday.
CHAPTER XIX
His having kept this great news for the last, having had such a
card up his sleeve and not floated it out in the current of his
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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 Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: then, I think you worthy to be ME!
Your letter, though short, enables me to read within you. Yes, I
have guessed your tumultuous struggles, your piqued curiosity,
your projects; but I do not yet know you well enough to satisfy
your wishes. Hear me, dear; the mystery in which I am shrouded
allows me to use that word, which lets you see to the bottom of my
heart. Hear me: if we once meet, adieu to our mutual
comprehension! Will you make a compact with me? Was the first
disadvantageous to you? But remember it won you my esteem, and it
is a great deal, my friend, to gain an admiration lined throughout
with esteem. Here is the compact: write me your life in a few
Modeste Mignon |
