| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Facino Cane by Honore de Balzac: forth like a burning flame, lit by one sole insatiable desire, written
large in vigorous characters upon an arching brow scored across with
as many lines as an old stone wall.
The old man was playing at random, without the slightest regard for
time or tune. His fingers traveled mechanically over the worn keys of
his instrument; he did not trouble himself over a false note now and
again (a /canard/, in the language of the orchestra), neither did the
dancers, nor, for that matter, did my old Italian's acolytes; for I
had made up my mind that he must be Italian, and an Italian he was.
There was something great, something too of the despot about this old
Homer bearing within him an /Odyssey/ doomed to oblivion. The
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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 Edingburgh Picturesque Notes by Robert Louis Stevenson: period before the beginning of history. The date is
reassuring; for I think cautious writers are silent on
the General's exploits. But the stone is connected with
one of those remarkable tenures of land which linger on
into the modern world from Feudalism. Whenever the
reigning sovereign passes by, a certain landed proprietor
is held bound to climb on to the top, trumpet in hand,
and sound a flourish according to the measure of his
knowledge in that art. Happily for a respectable family,
crowned heads have no great business in the Pentland
Hills. But the story lends a character of comicality to
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