| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Paz by Honore de Balzac: added hastily, "There is not a woman in society, with her mincing
airs, that is worth the honest nature of that young animal."
"At any rate, I wish nothing of the animal about me," said the
countess, with a glance like that of an angry viper.
After that evening Comte Paz showed Clementine the exact state of her
affairs; he made himself her tutor, taught her the methods and
difficulties of the management of property, the proper prices to pay
for things, and how to avoid being cheated by her servants. He told
her she could rely on Constantin and make him her major-domo. Thaddeus
had trained the man thoroughly. By the end of May he thought the
countess fully competent to carry on her affairs alone; for Clementine
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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 Ruling Passion by Henry van Dyke: don't alluz keep that. Guess we might uz well shet up this ball, or
go to work playin' games."
At this proposal a thick gloom had fallen over the assembly; but it
had been dispersed by Serena Moody's cheerful offer to have the
small melodion brought out of the parlour, and to play for dancing
as well as she could. The company agreed that she was a smart girl,
and prepared to accept her performance with enthusiasm. As the
dance went on, there were frequent comments of approval to encourage
her in the labour of love.
"Sereny's doin' splendid, ain't she?" said the other girls.
To which the men replied, "You bet! The playin' 's reel nice, and
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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 Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: from the rocks, and every month dropped fruits upon the ground.
All animals that bite the grass or browse the shrubs, whether wild
or tame, wandered in this extensive circuit, secured from beasts of
prey by the mountains which confined them. On one part were flocks
and herds feeding in the pastures, on another all the beasts of
chase frisking in the lawns, the sprightly kid was bounding on the
rocks, the subtle monkey frolicking in the trees, and the solemn
elephant reposing in the shade. All the diversities of the world
were brought together, the blessings of nature were collected, and
its evils extracted and excluded.
The valley, wide and fruitful, supplied its inhabitants with all
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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 A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne: wrote a letter to Eliza. - Still it kept hold of me; and the
difficulty of understanding it increased but the desire.
I got my dinner; and after I had enlightened my mind with a bottle
of Burgundy; I at it again, - and, after two or three hours poring
upon it, with almost as deep attention as ever Gruter or Jacob Spon
did upon a nonsensical inscription, I thought I made sense of it;
but to make sure of it, the best way, I imagined, was to turn it
into English, and see how it would look then; - so I went on
leisurely, as a trifling man does, sometimes writing a sentence, -
then taking a turn or two, - and then looking how the world went,
out of the window; so that it was nine o'clock at night before I
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