| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Economist by Xenophon: By Hera (I replied), Ischomachus, I cannot say how much your doings
take my fancy. How you have contrived, to pack up portably for use--
together at the same time--appliances for health and recipes for
strength, exercises for war, and pains to promote your wealth! My
admiration is raised at every point. That you do study each of these
pursuits in the right way, you are yourself a standing proof. Your
look of heaven-sent health and general robustness we note with our
eyes, while our ears have heard your reputation as a first-rate
horseman and the wealthiest of men.
Isch. Yes, Socrates, such is my conduct, in return for which I am
rewarded with--the calumnies of half the world. You thought, I
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Letters of Two Brides by Honore de Balzac: very eve of the Chevalier's return, a fine but badly-managed estate,
where he designs to plant ten thousand mulberry-trees, raised in his
nursery with a special view to this acquisition. The Baron, having
found his long-lost son, has now but one thought, to marry him, and
marry him to a girl of good family.
My father and mother entered into their neighbor's idea with an eye to
my interests so soon as they discovered that Renee de Maucombe would
be acceptable without a dowry, and that the money the said Renee ought
to inherit from her parents would be duly acknowledged as hers in the
contract. In a similar way, my younger brother, Jean de Maucombe, as
soon as he came of age, signed a document stating that he had received
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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 Ann Veronica by H. G. Wells: supremely beautiful woman. He reached a silver cigar and
cigarette box from the sideboard and put it before his
father-in-law, and for a time the preliminaries of smoking
occupied them both. Then Capes flittered to the hearthrug and
poked the fire, stood up, and turned about. "Ann Veronica is
looking very well, don't you think?" he said, a little awkwardly.
"Very," said Mr. Stanley. "Very," and cracked a walnut
appreciatively.
"Life--things--I don't think her prospects now--Hopeful
outlook."
"You were in a difficult position," Mr. Stanley pronounced, and
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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 Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: we have of life even in the excess of misery! I constructed
another sail with a part of my dress and eagerly steered my course
towards the land. It had a wild and rocky appearance, but as I
approached nearer I easily perceived the traces of cultivation.
I saw vessels near the shore and found myself suddenly transported
back to the neighbourhood of civilized man. I carefully traced the
windings of the land and hailed a steeple which I at length saw
issuing from behind a small promontory. As I was in a state of
extreme debility, I resolved to sail directly towards the town,
as a place where I could most easily procure nourishment.
Fortunately I had money with me.
Frankenstein |
