| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Gambara by Honore de Balzac: loungers reduced his pace; he seemed accustomed to the stately step
which is ironically nicknamed the ambassador's strut; still, his
dignity had a touch of the theatrical. Though his features were
handsome and imposing, his hat, from beneath which thick black curls
stood out, was perhaps tilted a little too much over the right ear,
and belied his gravity by a too rakish effect. His eyes, inattentive
and half closed, looked down disdainfully on the crowd.
"There goes a remarkably good-looking young man," said a girl in a low
voice, as she made way for him to pass.
"And who is only too well aware of it!" replied her companion aloud--
who was very plain.
Gambara |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare: And lead these testie Riuals so astray,
As one come not within anothers way.
Like to Lysander, sometime frame thy tongue,
Then stirre Demetrius vp with bitter wrong;
And sometime raile thou like Demetrius;
And from each other looke thou leade them thus,
Till ore their browes, death-counterfeiting, sleepe
With leaden legs, and Battie-wings doth creepe:
Then crush this hearbe into Lysanders eie,
Whose liquor hath this vertuous propertie,
To take from thence all error, with his might,
A Midsummer Night's Dream |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom by William and Ellen Craft: It was principally through the extreme kindness of
Mr. Estlin, the Right Hon. Lady Noel Byron, Miss
Harriet Martineau, Mrs. Reid, Miss Sturch, and
a few other good friends, that my wife and myself
were able to spend a short time at a school in this
country, to acquire a little of that education which
we were so shamefully deprived of while in the
house of bondage. The school is under the super-
vision of the Misses Lushington, D.C.L. During
our stay at the school we received the greatest atten-
tion from every one; and I am particularly indebted
Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom |
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 Rezanov by Gertrude Atherton: California sky. In the Presidio square were long
blue shadows that might have been reflections of
the smoldering blue beyond the stars. Rezanov
and Concha sat on the railing at the end of the
"corridor."
"It is a custom--all that very material admira-
tion?" he asked.
"A very old one, but not too often followed.
Otherwise we should not prize it. But when some
Favorita outdoes herself then she receives the
greatest reward that man can think of--gold and
Rezanov |
