| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: reproduced by Largilliere. Her skin, of a firm full texture, bespoke
the vitality of a virgin; she had the fine brow of her mother, but it
was clear with the serenity of a young girl who knows no care. Her
liquid blue eyes, bathed in rich fluid, expressed the tender grace of
a glowing happiness. If that happiness took from her head the poetry
which painters insist on giving to their pictures my making them a
shade too pensive, the vague physical languor of a young girl who has
never left her mother's side made up for it, and gave her a species of
ideality. Notwithstanding the graceful lines of her figure, she was
strongly built. Her feet betrayed the peasant origin of her father and
her own defects of race, as did the redness of her hands, the sign of
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Enemies of Books by William Blades: and the `weeding' realised four times what I gave for the whole,
leaving me with some real book treasures.
"Some weeks afterwards I heard that the remainder of the books were
literally treated as waste lumber, and carted off to the neighbouring town,
and were to be had, any one of them, for sixpence, from a cobbler
who had allowed his shop to be used as a store house for them.
The news of their being there reached the ears of an old bookseller
in one of the large towns, and he, I think, cleared out the lot.
So curious an instance of the most total ignorance on the part of
the sellers, and I may add on the part of the possible buyers also,
I think is worth noting."
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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 Verses 1889-1896 by Rudyard Kipling:
Yet ere they came to my lance laid for the slaughter,
Lightly she leaped to a log lapped in the water;
Holding on high and apart skins that arrayed her,
Called she the God of the Wind that He should aid her.
Life had the tree at that word (Praise we the Giver!)
Otter-like left he the bank for the full river.
Far fell their axes behind, flashing and ringing,
Wonder was on me and fear -- yet she was singing!
Verses 1889-1896 |
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 Moral Emblems by Robert Louis Stevenson: Corpulent feeders, grossly dining,
And jolly clamour, hum and rattle,
Fairly outvoiced the tempest's battle.
As still his moistened lip he fingered,
The envious policeman lingered;
While far the infernal tempest sped,
And shook the country folks in bed,
And tore the trees and tossed the ships,
He lingered and he licked his lips.
Lo, from within, a hush! the host
Briefly expressed the evening's toast;
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