| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde: he went back to the terrace. But the Chamberlain looked grave, and
he knelt beside the little dwarf, and put his hand upon his heart.
And after a few moments he shrugged his shoulders, and rose up, and
having made a low bow to the Infanta, he said -
'MI BELLA PRINCESA, your funny little dwarf will never dance again.
It is a pity, for he is so ugly that he might have made the King
smile.'
'But why will he not dance again?' asked the Infanta, laughing.
'Because his heart is broken,' answered the Chamberlain.
And the Infanta frowned, and her dainty rose-leaf lips curled in
pretty disdain. 'For the future let those who come to play with me
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tour Through Eastern Counties of England by Daniel Defoe: towards the river, and holds in a line near half a mile quite down
to the river-side: in another street parallel with the road are
like rows of booths, but larger, and more intermingled with
wholesale dealers; and one side, passing out of this last street to
the left hand, is a formal great square, formed by the largest
booths, built in that form, and which they call the Duddery; whence
the name is derived, and what its signification is, I could never
yet learn, though I made all possible search into it. The area of
this square is about 80 to 100 yards, where the dealers have room
before every booth to take down, and open their packs, and to bring
in waggons to load and unload.
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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 The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: of the other, though it keeps on this side of wickedness; one of those
dark and comic dramas to which that of Tartuffe is mere child's play,
--dramas that do not enter the scenic domain, although they are
natural, conceivable, and even justifiable by necessity; dramas which
may be characterized as not vice, only the other side of it.
The princess began by sending for d'Arthez's books, of which she had
never, as yet, read a single word, although she had managed to
maintain a twenty minutes' eulogism and discussion of them without a
blunder. She now read them all. Then she wanted to compare these books
with the best that contemporary literature had produced. By the time
d'Arthez came to see her she was having an indigestion of mind.
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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 Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare: Foreknowing well, if there he came to lie,
Why, there Love liv'd, and there he could not die.
These lovely caves, these round enchanting pits,
Open'd their mouths to swallow Venus' liking. 248
Being mad before, how doth she now for wits?
Struck dead at first, what needs a second striking?
Poor queen of love, in thine own law forlorn,
To love a cheek that smiles at thee in scorn! 252
Now which way shall she turn? what shall she say?
Her words are done, her woes the more increasing;
The time is spent, her object will away,
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