| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Vailima Letters by Robert Louis Stevenson: jests, to hear one another laugh and scamper with the girls.
It's good fun, too, I believe, but not for R. L. S., AETAT.
40. Which I am now past forty, Custodian, and not one penny
the worse that I can see; as amusable as ever; to be on board
ship is reward enough for me; give me the wages of going on -
in a schooner! Only, if ever I were gay, which I
misremember, I am gay no more. And here is poor Henry
passing his evenings on my intellectual husks, which the
professors masticated; keeping the accounts of the estate -
all wrong I have no doubt - I keep no check, beyond a very
rough one; marching in with a cloudy brow, and the day-book
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin by Robert Louis Stevenson: and vowing to himself that his own married life should be upon that
pattern, his wife (whoever she might be) like Eliza Barron, himself
such another husband as Alfred Austin. What is more strange, he
not only brought away, but left behind him, golden opinions. He
must have been - he was, I am told - a trying lad; but there shone
out of him such a light of innocent candour, enthusiasm,
intelligence, and appreciation, that to persons already some way
forward in years, and thus able to enjoy indulgently the perennial
comedy of youth, the sight of him was delightful. By a pleasant
coincidence, there was one person in the house whom he did not
appreciate and who did not appreciate him: Anne Austin, his future
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Chouans by Honore de Balzac: vehicle, which, thanks to Coupiau's whip, now made rapid progress to
Fougeres.
"If you'd only been armed," said Coupiau, "we might have made some
defence."
"Idiot!" cried d'Orgemont, pointing to his heavy shoes. "I have ten
thousand francs in those soles; do you think I would be such a fool as
to fight with that sum about me?"
Mene-a-Bien scratched his ear and looked behind him, but his new
comrades were out of sight.
Hulot and his command stopped at Ernee long enough to place the
wounded in the hospital of the little town, and then, without further
The Chouans |
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 Deserted Woman by Honore de Balzac: were more eloquent than the most passionate letter; and, besides, he
would engage feminine curiosity to plead for him. He went, therefore,
to M. de Champignelles, proposing to employ that gentleman for the
better success of his enterprise. He informed the Marquis that he had
been entrusted with a delicate and important commission which
concerned the Vicomtesse de Beauseant, that he felt doubtful whether
she would read a letter written in an unknown handwriting, or put
confidence in a stranger. Would M. de Champignelles, on his next
visit, ask the Vicomtesse if she would consent to receive him--Gaston
de Nueil? While he asked the Marquis to keep his secret in case of a
refusal, he very ingeniously insinuated sufficient reasons for his own
|
