| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte: proposed to give to all the nobility and choice gentry of O- and
its neighbourhood for twenty miles round. Of course, she looked
forward to it with the wildest impatience, and the most extravagant
anticipations of delight.
'Miss Grey,' said she, one evening, a month before the all-
important day, as I was perusing a long and extremely interesting
letter of my sister's - which I had just glanced at in the morning
to see that it contained no very bad news, and kept till now,
unable before to find a quiet moment for reading it, - 'Miss Grey,
do put away that dull, stupid letter, and listen to me! I'm sure
my talk must be far more amusing than that.'
Agnes Grey |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Dreams & Dust by Don Marquis: Back to the Land of Yesterday!
How I would thrust the miles aside,
Rush up the quiet lane, and then,
Just where her roses laughed in pride,
Find her among the flowers again.
I'd slip in silently and wait
Until she saw me by the gate,
And then . . . read through a blur of tears
Quick pardon for the selfish years.
This time, this time, I would not wait
For that brief wire that said, Too late!--
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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 At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: opposed this deplorable craving. His favorite axioms were that, to
secure happiness, a woman must marry a man of her own class; that
every one was punished sooner or later for having climbed too high;
that love could so little endure under the worries of a household,
that both husband and wife needed sound good qualities to be happy,
that it would not do for one to be far in advance of the other,
because, above everything, they must understand each other; if a man
spoke Greek and his wife Latin, they might come to die of hunger. He
had himself invented this sort of adage. And he compared such
marriages to old-fashioned materials of mixed silk and wool. Still,
there is so much vanity at the bottom of man's heart that the prudence
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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 Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: between them.
"Let us go on," said Jacques Collin, making an effort to rise.
At the same moment the little ball rolled out of his sleeve, and the
spot where it fell was noted by the Baroness, who could look about her
freely from under her veil. The little pellet, being damp and sticky,
did not roll; for such trivial details, apparently unimportant, had
all been duly considered by Jacques Collin to insure success.
When the prisoner had been led up the higher part of the steps, Asie
very unaffectedly dropped her bag and picked it up again; but in
stooping she seized the pellet which had escaped notice, its color
being exactly like that of the dust and mud on the floor.
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