| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from King Henry VI by William Shakespeare: We give thee for reward a thousand marks,
And will that thou thenceforth attend on us.
IDEN.
May Iden live to merit such a bounty,
And never live but true unto his liege!
[Rises.]
[Enter QUEEN and SOMERSET.]
KING.
See, Buckingham, Somerset comes with the queen.
Go, bid her hide him quickly from the duke.
QUEEN.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Study of a Woman by Honore de Balzac: The Magic Skin
A Second Home
A Prince of Bohemia
Letters of Two Brides
The Muse of the Department
The Imaginary Mistress
The Middle Classes
Cousin Betty
The Country Parson
In addition, M. Bianchon narrated the following:
Another Study of Woman
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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 Theaetetus by Plato: as Protagoras says, "To myself I am the judge of what is and what is not."
Thus the flux of Homer and Heracleitus, the great Protagorean saying that
"Man is the measure of all things," the doctrine of Theaetetus that
"Knowledge is perception," have all the same meaning. And this is thy new-
born child, which by my art I have brought to light; and you must not be
angry if instead of rearing your infant we expose him.'
'Theaetetus will not be angry,' says Theodorus; 'he is very good-natured.
But I should like to know, Socrates, whether you mean to say that all this
is untrue?'
'First reminding you that I am not the bag which contains the arguments,
but that I extract them from Theaetetus, shall I tell you what amazes me in
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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 Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer: which device we also had adopted in the case of the larger bed.
The perfumed envelope lay upon a little coffee table in the center
of the floor, and Smith, with an electric pocket lamp, a revolver,
and a brassey beside him, sat on cushions in the shadow of the wardrobe.
I occupied a post between the windows.
No unusual sound, so far, had disturbed the stillness of the night.
Save for the muffled throb of the rare all-night cars passing
the front of the house, our vigil had been a silent one.
The full moon had painted about the floor weird shadows of
the clustering ivy, spreading the design gradually from the door,
across the room, past the little table where the envelope lay,
The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu |
