| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Enemies of Books by William Blades: and although for a time the leaves may look bright to the eye,
and even crackle under the hand like the soundest paper,
yet in the course of a few years the enemy will appear, the fibre
will decay, and the existence of the books will terminate in a state
of white tinder.
Everything which diminishes the interest of a book is inimical
to its preservation, and in fact is its enemy. Therefore, a few
words upon the destruction of old bindings.
I remember purchasing many years ago at a suburban book stall,
a perfect copy of Moxon's Mechanic Exercises, now a scarce work.
The volumes were uncut, and had the original marble covers.
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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 Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad: to," she commented severely and passed her tongue over her thin
lips. "And then the devil furnishes the occasion."
"I can't imagine the devil inciting me to murder you, Therese," I
said, "and I didn't like that ready way you took me for an example,
as it were. I suppose pretty near every lodger might be a
potential murderer, but I expected to be made an exception."
With the candle held a little below her face, with that face of one
tone and without relief she looked more than ever as though she had
come out of an old, cracked, smoky painting, the subject of which
was altogether beyond human conception. And she only compressed
her lips.
The Arrow of Gold |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Bucolics by Virgil: Alternate strains are to the Muses dear.
DAMOETAS
"From Jove the Muse began; Jove filleth all,
Makes the earth fruitful, for my songs hath care."
MENALCAS
"Me Phoebus loves; for Phoebus his own gifts,
Bays and sweet-blushing hyacinths, I keep."
DAMOETAS
"Gay Galatea throws an apple at me,
Then hies to the willows, hoping to be seen."
MENALCAS
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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 Sons of the Soil by Honore de Balzac: Marechal was the lawyer whom his former patron, when buying Les Aigues
for the general, had recommended to Monsieur de Montcornet as legal
adviser.
Sibilet, eldest son of the clerk of the court at Ville-aux-Fayes, a
notary's clerk, without a penny of his own, and twenty-five years old,
had fallen in love with the daughter of the chief-magistrate of
Soulanges. The latter, named Sarcus, had a salary of fifteen hundred
francs, and was married to a woman without fortune, the eldest sister
of Monsieur Vermut, the apothecary of Soulanges. Though an only
daughter, Mademoiselle Sarcus, whose beauty was her only dowry, could
scarcely have lived on the salary paid to a notary's clerk in the
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