| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Edition of The Ambassadors by Henry James: with his becoming aware, by another quick turn, that Gloriani was
now on the sofa talking with Jeanne, while he himself had in his
ears again the familiar friendliness and the elusive meaning of the
"Oh, oh, oh!" that had made him, a fortnight before, challenge Miss
Barrace in vain. She had always the air, this picturesque and
original lady, who struck him, so oddly, as both antique and
modern--she had always the air of taking up some joke that one had
already had out with her. The point itself, no doubt, was what was
antique, and the use she made of it what was modern. He felt just
now that her good-natured irony did bear on something, and it
troubled him a little that she wouldn't be more explicit only
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from King James Bible: in that which is to come:
EPH 1:22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the
head over all things to the church,
EPH 1:23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
EPH 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and
sins;
EPH 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that
now worketh in the children of disobedience:
EPH 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in
the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the
King James Bible |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Muse of the Department by Honore de Balzac: "By the way in which the brigand is made to speak," said Monsieur
Gravier, "it is evident that the author knew nothing of Italy.
Banditti do not allow themselves such graceful conceits."
Madame Gorju came up to Bianchon, seeing him pensive, and with a
glance towards her daughter Mademoiselle Euphemie Gorju, the owner of
a fairly good fortune--"What a rhodomontade!" said she. "The
prescriptions you write are worth more than all that rubbish."
The Mayoress had elaborately worked up this speech, which, in her
opinion, showed strong judgment.
"Well, madame, we must be lenient, we have but twenty pages out of a
thousand," said Bianchon, looking at Mademoiselle Gorju, whose figure
The Muse of the Department |
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 Enemies of Books by William Blades: of France, books meet their fate.
[1] Le luxe des Livres par L. Derome. 8vo, Paris, 1879.
M. Derome loquitur:--
"Let us now enter the communal library of some large provincial town.
The interior has a lamentable appearance; dust and disorder have made
it their home. It has a librarian, but he has the consideration
of a porter only, and goes but once a week to see the state of
the books committed to his care; they are in a bad state, piled in
heaps and perishing in corners for want of attention and binding.
At this present time (1879) more than one public library in Paris
could be mentioned in which thousands of books are received annually,
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