| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: restraining the young man; "drunk as he is, he is not much
out in what he says. Absence severs as well as death, and if
the walls of a prison were between Edmond and Mercedes they
would be as effectually separated as if he lay under a
tombstone."
"Yes; but one gets out of prison," said Caderousse, who,
with what sense was left him, listened eagerly to the
conversation, "and when one gets out and one's name is
Edmond Dantes, one seeks revenge" --
"What matters that?" muttered Fernand.
"And why, I should like to know," persisted Caderousse,
The Count of Monte Cristo |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot: non avea pianto, ma' che di sospiri,
che l'aura eterna facevan tremare.
68. A phenomenon which I have often noticed.
74. Cf. the Dirge in Webster's _White Devil_ . 76.
_V._ Baudelaire, Preface to _Fleurs du Mal_.
II. A GAME OF CHESS
77. Cf. _Antony and Cleopatra_, II. ii. 190.
92. Laquearia. _V. Aeneid_, I. 726:
dependent lychni laquearibus aureis incensi, et noctem flammis
funalia vincunt.
98. Sylvan scene. _V._ Milton, _Paradise Lost_, iv. 140.
The Waste Land |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from What is Man? by Mark Twain: practical purposes. You see, he was of an argumentative
disposition. Therefore it took him but a little time to get
tired of arguing with a person who agreed with everything he said
and consequently never furnished him a provocative to flare up
and show what he could do when it came to clear, cold, hard,
rose-cut, hundred-faceted, diamond-flashing REASONING. That was
his name for it. It has been applied since, with complacency, as
many as several times, in the Bacon-Shakespeare scuffle. On the
Shakespeare side.
Then the thing happened which has happened to more persons
than to me when principle and personal interest found themselves
What is Man? |
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 The Touchstone by Edith Wharton: "Oh, DO let me come to you, then!" Mrs. Touchett cried; "anything
for a change of air! I'm positively sick of the book and I can't
put it down. Can't you sail us beyond its reach, Mr. Flamel?"
Flamel shook his head. "Not even with this breeze. Literature
travels faster than steam nowadays. And the worst of it is that
we can't any of us give up reading; it's as insidious as a vice
and as tiresome as a virtue."
"I believe it IS a vice, almost, to read such a book as the
'Letters,'" said Mrs. Touchett. "It's the woman's soul,
absolutely torn up by the roots--her whole self laid bare; and to
a man who evidently didn't care; who couldn't have cared. I don't
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