| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: "And, dear count," I continued, "if by chance a woman is involuntarily
subjected to feelings other than those society imposes on her, you
must admit that the more irresistible that feeling is, the more
virtuous she is in smothering it, in sacrificing herself to her
husband and children. This theory is not applicable to me who
unfortunately show an example to the contrary, nor to you whom it will
never concern."
"You have a noble soul, Felix," said the count, slipping his arm, not
ungracefully, round his wife's waist and drawing her towards him to
say: "Forgive a poor sick man, dear, who wants to be loved more than
he deserves."
The Lily of the Valley |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians by Martin Luther: works that God does not expect of them. We quarrel with them because
they refuse to have Jesus' merit count alone for righteousness.
St. Bernard was one of the best of the medieval saints. He lived a chaste
and holy life. But when it came to dying he did not trust in his chaste life
for salvation. He prayed: "I have lived a wicked life. But Thou, Lord Jesus,
hast a heaven to give unto me. First, because Thou art the Son of God.
Secondly, because Thou hast purchased heaven for me by Thy suffering
and death. Thou givest heaven to me, not because I earned it, but because
Thou hast earned it for me." If any of the Romanists are saved it is because
they forget their good deeds and merits and feel like Paul: "Not having
mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the
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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 Paz by Honore de Balzac: "Good morning, Adam," he said familiarly. Then he bowed courteously as
he asked Clementine what he could do for her.
"You are Laginski's friend!" exclaimed the countess.
"For life and death," answered Paz, to whom the count threw a smile of
affection as he drew a last puff from his perfumed pipe.
"Then why don't you take your meals with us? why did you not accompany
us to Italy and Switzerland? why do you hide yourself in such a way
that I am unable to thank you for the constant services that you do
for us?" said the countess, with much vivacity of manner but no
feeling.
In fact, she thought she perceived in Paz a sort of voluntary
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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 Moby Dick by Herman Melville: him, and using it there without ceremony; reaching over the table
with it, to the imminent jeopardy of many heads, and grappling the
beefsteaks towards him. But THAT was certainly very coolly done by
him, and every one knows that in most people's estimation, to do
anything coolly is to do it genteelly.
We will not speak of all Queequeg's peculiarities here; how he
eschewed coffee and hot rolls, and applied his undivided attention to
beefsteaks, done rare. Enough, that when breakfast was over he
withdrew like the rest into the public room, lighted his
tomahawk-pipe, and was sitting there quietly digesting and smoking
with his inseparable hat on, when I sallied out for a stroll.
Moby Dick |
