| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: taste. Claudine, Hortense, the Baroness, the Bourgeoise, the Empress,
the Spaniard, the Lioness,--these were cryptic titles which permitted
us to pour out our joys, our cares, vexations, and hopes, and to
communicate our discoveries. Further, none of us went. It has been
shown, in Bohemia, that chance discovered the identity of the fair
unknown; and at once, as by tacit convention, not one of us spoke of
her again. This fact may show how far youth possesses a sense of true
delicacy. How admirably certain natures of a finer clay know the limit
line where jest must end, and all that host of things French covered
by the slang word /blague/, a word which will shortly be cast out of
the language (let us hope), and yet it is the only one which conveys
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: charm of manner, and a vibrant voice; yet a taint of natural
charlatanism destroys the effect of nearly all these advantages; he is
a born comedian. If he puts forward his well-shaped foot, it is
because the attitude has become a habit; if he uses exclamatory terms
they are part of himself; if he poses with high dramatic action he has
made that deportment his second nature. Such defects as these are not
incompatible with a general benevolence and a certain quality of
errant and purely ideal chivalry, which distinguishes the paladin from
the knight. Canalis has not devotion enough for a Don Quixote, but he
has too much elevation of thought not to put himself on the nobler
side of questions and things. His poetry, which takes the town by
Modeste Mignon |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: and cost her another blush.
She got away as soon as she could from a room in
which her conduct produced such unpleasant reflections,
and found her way with all speed to the breakfast-parlour,
as it had been pointed out to her by Miss Tilney the
evening before. Henry was alone in it; and his immediate
hope of her having been undisturbed by the tempest,
with an arch reference to the character of the building
they inhabited, was rather distressing. For the world
would she not have her weakness suspected, and yet,
unequal to an absolute falsehood, was constrained to
Northanger Abbey |
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 Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare: Make modest Dian cloudy and forlorn,
Lest she should steal a kiss and die forsworn.
'Now of this dark night I perceive the reason:
Cynthia for shame obscures her silver shine 728
Till forging Nature be condemn'd of treason,
For stealing moulds from heaven that were divine;
Wherein she fram'd thee in high heaven's despite,
To shame the sun by day and her by night. 732
'And therefore hath she brib'd the Destinies,
To cross the curious workmanship of nature
To mingle beauty with infirmities,
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