| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Nana, Miller's Daughter, Captain Burle, Death of Olivier Becaille by Emile Zola: last people were going to make the acquaintance of this famous Nana
with whom Paris had been occupying itself for a whole week!
Little by little, however, the buzz of talk dwindled softly down
among occasional fresh outbursts of rough speech. And amid this
swooning murmur, these perishing sighs of sound, the orchestra
struck up the small, lively notes of a waltz with a vagabond rhythm
bubbling with roguish laughter. The public were titillated; they
were already on the grin. But the gang of clappers in the foremost
rows of the pit applauded furiously. The curtain rose.
"By George!" exclaimed La Faloise, still talking away. "There's a
man with Lucy."
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne: him a thousand thanks for it."
There is not a secret so aiding to the progress of sociality, as to
get master of this SHORT HAND, and to be quick in rendering the
several turns of looks and limbs with all their inflections and
delineations, into plain words. For my own part, by long habitude,
I do it so mechanically, that, when I walk the streets of London, I
go translating all the way; and have more than once stood behind in
the circle, where not three words have been said, and have brought
off twenty different dialogues with me, which I could have fairly
wrote down and sworn to.
I was going one evening to Martini's concert at Milan, and, was
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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 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: F., who, instantly taking the alarm, set off from B., intending to
trace their route. He did trace them easily to Clapham, but no
further; for on entering that place, they removed into a hackney
coach, and dismissed the chaise that brought them from Epsom.
All that is known after this is, that they were seen to continue
the London road. I know not what to think. After making
every possible inquiry on that side London, Colonel F. came on
into Hertfordshire, anxiously renewing them at all the turnpikes,
and at the inns in Barnet and Hatfield, but without any success--
no such people had been seen to pass through. With the kindest
concern he came on to Longbourn, and broke his apprehensions
Pride and Prejudice |
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 Exiles by Honore de Balzac: the Heavenly Jerusalem--a city whose name I may not speak. There, too,
a river winds. But that city and its buildings, that river of which
the lovely vistas, and the pools of blue water, mingled, crossed, and
embraced each other, which gladdened my sight and filled me with love
--where are they?
"At that hour the waters assumed fantastic hues under the sunset sky,
and seemed to be painted pictures; the stars dropped tender streaks of
light, the moon spread its pleasing snares; it gave another life to
the trees, to the color and form of things, and a new aspect to the
sparkling water, the silent hills, the eloquent buildings. The city
spoke, it glittered, it called to me to return!
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