| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: to drop her weapon.
So, eight days later, a little dinner such as are given to intimates
by verbal invitation only, during which the doors are closed to all
other visitors, took place at Madame d'Espard's house. Five persons
were invited,--Emile Blondet and Madame de Montcornet, Daniel
d'Arthez, Rastignac, and the Princesse de Cadignan. Counting the
mistress of the house, there were as many men as women.
Chance never exerted itself to make wiser preparations than those
which opened the way to a meeting between d'Arthez and Madame de
Cadignan. The princess is still considered one of the chief
authorities on dress, which, to women, is the first of arts. On this
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tono Bungay by H. G. Wells: getting down."
She swung herself down into my arms, and stood beside me face to
face.
"Where's Cothope?" she asked.
"Gone."
Her eyes flitted to the pavilion and back to me. We stood close
together, extraordinarily intimate, and extraordinarily apart.
"I've never seen this cottage of yours," she said, "and I want
to."
She flung the bridle of her horse round the veranda post, and I
helped her tie it.
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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 Blix by Frank Norris: uncomfortable in her one good dress and stiff white apron. She
stood off from the table, making awkward dabs at it from time to
time. In her excess of deference she developed a clumsiness that
was beyond all expression. She passed the plates upon the wrong
side, and remembered herself with a broken apology at inopportune
moments. She dropped a spoon, she spilled the ice-water. She
handled the delft cups and platters with an exaggerated
solicitude, as though they were glass bombs. She brushed the
crumbs into their laps instead of into the crumb-tray, and at
last, when she had sat even Travis' placid nerves in a jangle, was
dismissed to the kitchen, and retired with a gasp of unspeakable
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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 The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy: the babble of voices, the jingle of glasses, and the drawing
of corks. The blinds, moreover, being left unclosed, the
whole interior of this room could be surveyed from the top
of a flight of stone steps to the road-waggon office
opposite, for which reason a knot of idlers had gathered
there.
"We might, perhaps, after all, make a few inquiries about--
our relation Mr. Henchard," whispered Mrs. Newson who, since
her entry into Casterbridge, had seemed strangely weak and
agitated, "And this, I think, would be a good place for
trying it--just to ask, you know, how he stands in the town--
The Mayor of Casterbridge |
