| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Sir John Mandeville: Antarctic. And so far I have gone more further in those countries,
that I have found that star more high; so that toward the High
Lybia it is eighteen degrees of height and certain minutes (of the
which sixty minutes make a degree). After going by sea and by land
toward this country of that I have spoken, and to other isles and
lands beyond that country, I have found the Star Antarctic of
thirty-three degrees of height and more minutes. And if I had had
company and shipping for to go more beyond, I trow well, in
certain, that we should have seen all the roundness of the
firmament all about. For, as I have said to you before, the half
of the firmament is between those two stars, the which halvendel I
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The American by Henry James: Why did you ever introduce me to that girl?"
"Oh, it's Noemie, is it? Lord deliver us! You don't mean to say
you are lovesick about her?"
"Lovesick, no; it's not a grand passion. But the cold-blooded little
demon sticks in my thoughts; she has bitten me with those even little
teeth of hers; I feel as if I might turn rabid and do something
crazy in consequence. It's very low, it's disgustingly low.
She's the most mercenary little jade in Europe. Yet she really
affects my peace of mind; she is always running in my head.
It's a striking contrast to your noble and virtuous attachment--
a vile contrast! It is rather pitiful that it should be the best
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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 Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: letter to the Revolutionary tribunal, and, with an authority no human
being in Arcis would have dared to contest, he ordered a reprieve.
The same day he mounted the tribune, and after speaking in general
terms of the "bloody boobies" who by their foolish fury compromised
the future of the Revolution, he told who and what Mother Marie-des-
Anges really was; he dwelt on her marvellous aptitude for the training
of youth, and he presented a scheme in which she was placed at the
head of a "grand national gynaecium," the organization of which was to
be made the subject of another decree. Robespierre, who would have
thought the intellect of an Ursuline nun only a more imperative reason
for bringing her under the revolutionary axe, was absent that day from
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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 Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy: "Just you shut up, Bower o' Bliss!" said one of the undergraduates.
"Silence!" He drank off the spirits in his tumbler, rapped with it
on the counter, and announced, "The gentleman in the corner is
going to rehearse the Articles of his Belief, in the Latin tongue,
for the edification of the company."
"I won't!" said Jude.
"Yes--have a try!" said the surplice-maker.
"You can't!" said Uncle Joe.
"Yes, he can!" said Tinker Taylor.
"I'll swear I can!" said Jude. "Well, come now, stand me a small Scotch cold,
and I'll do it straight off."
Jude the Obscure |
