| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Sarrasine by Honore de Balzac: a curtain of watered silk, I was able to contemplate at my leisure the
garden of the mansion at which I was passing the evening. The trees,
being partly covered with snow, were outlined indistinctly against the
grayish background formed by a cloudy sky, barely whitened by the
moon. Seen through the medium of that strange atmosphere, they bore a
vague resemblance to spectres carelessly enveloped in their shrouds, a
gigantic image of the famous /Dance of Death/. Then, turning in the
other direction, I could gaze admiringly upon the dance of the living!
a magnificent salon, with walls of silver and gold, with gleaming
chandeliers, and bright with the light of many candles. There the
loveliest, the wealthiest women in Paris, bearers of the proudest
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Crowd by Gustave le Bon: race will acquire in succession the qualities necessary to give
it splendour, vigour, and grandeur. At times no doubt it will
still be a crowd, but henceforth, beneath the mobile and changing
characteristics of crowds, is found a solid substratum, the
genius of the race which confines within narrow limits the
transformations of a nation and overrules the play of chance.
After having exerted its creative action, time begins that work
of destruction from which neither gods nor men escape. Having
reached a certain level of strength and complexity a civilisation
ceases to grow, and having ceased to grow it is condemned to a
speedy decline. The hour of its old age has struck.
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard: smell. Then by signs he directed me to remove such garments as
remained on me, the fashion of which seemed to puzzle them greatly.
This being done, they proceeded to anoint my body with the paste,
the touch of which gave me a most blessed relief from my
intolerable itching and burning, and moreover rendered my flesh
distasteful to the insects, for after that they plagued me little.
When I was anointed they offered me food, fried fish and cakes of
meal, together with a most delicious hot drink covered with a brown
and foaming froth that I learned to know afterwards as chocolate.
When I had finished eating, having talked a while together in low
tones, they motioned me to enter one of the canoes, giving me mats
Montezuma's Daughter |
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 Love and Friendship by Jane Austen: Day in a crowded and uncomfortable Stage." I perfectly agreed with
her in her sentiments on the affair, and secretly blamed Sir
Edward for thus sacrificing his Daughter's Pleasure for the sake
of a ridiculous old woman whose folly in marrying so young a man
ought to be punished. His Behaviour however was entirely of a
peice with his general Character; for what could be expected from
a man who possessed not the smallest atom of Sensibility, who
scarcely knew the meaning of simpathy, and who actually snored--.
Adeiu
Laura.
LETTER the 15th
Love and Friendship |
