| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ursula by Honore de Balzac: themselves mothers for her sake, all three equally attentive and
provident. Thanks to this wise education, Ursula's soul developed in a
sphere that suited it. This rare plant found its special soil; it
breathed the elements of its true life and assimilated the sun rays
that belonged to it.
"In what faith do you intend to bring up the little one?" asked the
abbe of the doctor, when Ursula was six years old.
"In yours," answered Minoret.
An atheist after the manner of Monsieur Wolmar in the "Nouvelle
Heloise" he did not claim the right to deprive Ursula of the benefits
offered by the Catholic religion. The doctor, sitting at the moment on
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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 School For Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan: SIR BENJAMIN. Why, she has very pretty Teeth.
LADY TEAZLE. Yes and on that account, when she is neither speaking
nor laughing (which very seldom happens)--she never absolutely shuts
her mouth, but leaves it always on a-Jar, as it were----
MRS. CANDOUR. How can you be so ill-natured!
LADY TEAZLE. Nay, I allow even that's better than the Pains Mrs. Prim
takes to conceal her losses in Front--she draws her mouth till
it resembles the aperture of a Poor's-Box, and all her words appear
to slide out edgewise.
LADY SNEERWELL. Very well Lady Teazle I see you can be a little
severe.
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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 Familiar Studies of Men and Books by Robert Louis Stevenson: some one in his eye - a lady, if you please, with a fine
figure and elegant manners, and who had "seen the politest
quarters in Europe." "I frequently visited her," he writes,
"and after passing regularly the intermediate degrees between
the distant formal bow and the familiar grasp round the
waist, I ventured, in my careless way, to talk of friendship
in rather ambiguous terms; and after her return to - , I
wrote her in the same terms. Miss, construing my remarks
further than even I intended, flew off in a tangent of female
dignity and reserve, like a mounting lark in an April
morning; and wrote me an answer which measured out very
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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 Selected Writings of Guy De Maupassant by Guy De Maupassant: there was neither bell nor knocker, I knocked at the door with my
fist, and a loud voice from inside asked: 'Who is there?' to
which I replied: 'A quartermaster of hussars.'
"I heard the noise of bolts, and of a key being turned. Then I
found myself face to face with a tall priest with a large
stomach, the chest of a prize-fighter, formidable hands
projecting from turned-up sleeves, a red face, and the looks of a
kind man. I gave him a military salute and said: 'Good day,
Monsieur le Cure.'
"He had feared a surprise, some marauders' ambush, and he smiled
as he replied: 'Good day, my friend; come in.' I followed him
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