| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Pool in the Desert by Sara Jeanette Duncan: grateful for having been spared the exigency of defending his wife
against a flippant word to which she had very probably laid herself
open. He was very angry, and it is perhaps not surprising that he
did not pause to consider how far his anger was due to the
humiliating necessity of speaking to her about it. She was coming
at last though; she was in the hall. He would get it over quickly.
'Goodbye!' said Mrs. Innes at the door. 'No, I can't possibly let
you come in to tea. I don't know how you have the conscience after
drinking three cups at Mrs. Mickie's, where I had no business to
take you! Tomorrow? Oh, all right if you want to VERY badly. But
I won't promise you strawberries--they're nearly all gone.'
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Psychology of Revolution by Gustave le Bon: answer.''
M. Madelin is equally dubious in the book he has recently
published:--
``I have never felt sufficient authority to form, even in my
inmost conscience, a categorical judgment on so complex a
phenomenon as the French Revolution. To-day I find it even more
difficult to form a brief judgement. Causes, facts, and
consequences seem to me to be still extremely debatable
subjects.''
One may obtain a still better idea of the transformation of the
old ideas concerning the Revolution by perusing the latest
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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 Hiero by Xenophon: So sovereign a good do I, for my part, esteem it to be loved, that I
do verily believe spontaneous blessings are outpoured from gods and
men on one so favoured.
This is that choice possession which, beyond all others, the monarch
is deprived of.
But if you require further evidence that what I say is true, look at
the matter thus: No friendship, I presume, is sounder than that which
binds parents to their children and children to their parents,
brothers and sisters to each other,[9] wives to husbands, comrade to
comrade.
[9] Or, "brothers to brothers."
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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 Lesser Bourgeoisie by Honore de Balzac: pursued his three avocations was a part of his natural character and
temperament. He was a fine stout man, ruddy, jovial, extravagant, and
full of ideas. In ten years there was never a quarrel in his
household. Among business men he was looked upon, in common with all
artists, as a scatter-brained fellow; and superficial persons thought
that the constant hurry of this hard worker was only the restless
coming and going of a busybody.
Colleville had the sense to seem stupid; he boasted of his family
happiness, and gave himself unheard-of trouble in making anagrams, in
order at times to seem absorbed in that passion. The government clerks
of his division at the ministry, the office directors, and even the
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