| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Herodias by Gustave Flaubert: admiration; to him this exhibition of gluttony denoted a wonderful
being belonging to a superior race.
The feast went on. Slaves served the guests with kidneys, dormice,
nightingales, mince-meat dressed with vine-leaves. The priests
discoursed among themselves regarding the supposed resurrection.
Ammonius, pupil of Philon, the Platonist, pronounced them stupid, and
told the Greeks that he laughed at their oracles.
Marcellus and Jacob were seated side by side. Marcellus described the
happiness he had felt under the baptism of Mithra, and Jacob made him
promise to become a follower of Jesus.
The wines of the palm and the tamarisk, those of Safed and of Byblos,
Herodias |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne: rising and falling with the tide, thus facilitate the loading
and unloading of vessels. Alongside them were clippers of all sizes,
steamers of all nationalities, and the steamboats, with several decks
rising one above the other, which ply on the Sacramento and its tributaries.
There were also heaped up the products of a commerce which extends to Mexico,
Chili, Peru, Brazil, Europe, Asia, and all the Pacific islands.
Passepartout, in his joy on reaching at last the American continent,
thought he would manifest it by executing a perilous vault in fine style;
but, tumbling upon some worm-eaten planks, he fell through them.
Put out of countenance by the manner in which he thus "set foot"
upon the New World, he uttered a loud cry, which so frightened
Around the World in 80 Days |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Wrong Box by Stevenson & Osbourne: lodgers as 'Norfolk Island'--is neither a long, a handsome, nor a
pleasing thoroughfare. Dirty, undersized maids-of-all-work issue
from it in pursuit of beer, or linger on its sidewalk listening
to the voice of love. The cat's-meat man passes twice a day. An
occasional organ-grinder wanders in and wanders out again,
disgusted. In holiday-time the street is the arena of the young
bloods of the neighbourhood, and the householders have an
opportunity of studying the manly art of self-defence. And yet
Norfolk Street has one claim to be respectable, for it contains
not a single shop--unless you count the public-house at the
corner, which is really in the King's Road.
|
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 Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: and the books are the sole decoration of the room, for the furniture
consists of an old writing table of carved wood, six old armchairs
covered with tapestry, window curtains of gray stuff bordered with
green, and a green carpet over the floor. The ante-room stove heats
this library as well. As I waited there I did not picture my advocate
as a young man. But this singular setting is in perfect harmony with
his person; for Monsieur Savaron came out in a black merino dressing-
gown tied with a red cord, red slippers, a red flannel waistcoat, and
a red smoking-cap."
"The devil's colors!" exclaimed Madame de Watteville.
"Yes," said the Abbe; "but a magnificent head. Black hair already
Albert Savarus |
