| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: "At these words an expression, which revealed all the pleasure which
men feel who are accustomed to ride a hobby, overspread the lawyer's
countenance. He pulled up the collar of his shirt with an air, took
out his snuffbox, opened it, and offered me a pinch; on my refusing,
he took a large one. He was happy! A man who has no hobby does not
know all the good to be got out of life. A hobby is the happy medium
between a passion and a monomania. At this moment I understood the
whole bearing of Sterne's charming passion, and had a perfect idea of
the delight with which my uncle Toby, encouraged by Trim, bestrode his
hobby-horse.
" 'Monsieur,' said Monsieur Regnault, 'I was head-clerk in Monsieur
La Grande Breteche |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin: The corrugators of the brow (_corrugator supercilii_) seem to be
the first muscles to contract; and these draw the eyebrows downwards
and inwards towards the base of the nose, causing vertical furrows,
that is a frown, to appear between the eyebrows; at the same time
they cause the disappearance of the transverse wrinkles across
the forehead. The orbicular muscles contract almost simultaneously
with the corrugators, and produce wrinkles all round the eyes;
they appear, however, to be enabled to contract with greater force,
as soon as the contraction of the corrugators has given them
some support. Lastly, the pyramidal muscles of the nose contract;
and these draw the eyebrows and the skin of the forehead still
Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Collection of Antiquities by Honore de Balzac: "You cannot go home, sir," the old man said, with a scared face; "they
have come with a warrant to arrest you."
Victurnien thought that he had been arrested on the criminal charge,
albeit there had not been time for the public prosecutor to receive
his instructions. He had forgotten the matter of the bills of
exchange, which had been stirred up again for some days past in the
form of orders to pay, brought by the officers of the court with
accompaniments in the shape of bailiffs, men in possession,
magistrates, commissaries, policemen, and other representatives of
social order. Like most guilty creatures, Victurnien had forgotten
everything but his crime.
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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 The Happy Prince and Other Tales by Oscar Wilde: may take my big sword and slay him."
"Nay!" answered the child; "but these are the wounds of Love."
"Who art thou?" said the Giant, and a strange awe fell on him, and
he knelt before the little child.
And the child smiled on the Giant, and said to him, "You let me
play once in your garden, to-day you shall come with me to my
garden, which is Paradise."
And when the children ran in that afternoon, they found the Giant
lying dead under the tree, all covered with white blossoms.
THE DEVOTED FRIEND
One morning the old Water-rat put his head out of his hole. He had
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