| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: wonderfully adapt. Geryon is said to have been a king of Spain,
whom Hercules slew. It was a fiction of the poets, that he had
three heads, which the author says he shall have again: That is,
Spain shall have three kings; which is now wonderfully verified;
for besides the King of Portugal, which properly is part of
Spain, there are now two rivals for Spain, Charles and Philip:
But Charles being descended fro the Count of Hapsburgh, founder
of the Austrian family, shall soon make those heads but two; by
overturning Philip, and driving him out of Spain.
Some of these predictions are already fulfilled; and it is highly
probable the rest may be in due time; and, I think, I have not
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Vendetta by Honore de Balzac: most modest, and, apparently, the least rich among them. Two principal
groups, distinctly separated from each other, showed the presence of
two sets or cliques, two minds even here, in this studio, where one
might suppose that rank and fortune would be forgotten.
But, however that might be, these young girls, sitting or standing, in
the midst of their color-boxes, playing with their brushes or
preparing them, handling their dazzling palettes, painting, laughing,
talking, singing, absolutely natural, and exhibiting their real
selves, composed a spectacle unknown to man. One of them, proud,
haughty, capricious, with black hair and beautiful hands, was casting
the flame of her glance here and there at random; another, light-
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Book of Remarkable Criminals by H. B. Irving: lady whom he was expecting, call to see him, she was to be shown
up to his room. The same morning a gentleman, resembling M.
Desportes of Paris, bought two lady's dresses at a shop in Lyons.
The same afternoon a lady dressed in black silk, with a hood well
drawn over her eyes, called at the office of M. Pourra, a notary.
The latter was not greatly attracted by his visitor, whose nose
struck him as large for a woman. She said that she had spent her
youth in Lyons, but her accent was distinctly Parisian. The lady
gave her name as Madame de Lamotte, and asked for a power of
attorney by which she could give her husband the interest
due to her on a sum of 30,000 livres, part of the purchase-money
A Book of Remarkable Criminals |
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 Twelve Stories and a Dream by H. G. Wells: a condition of trance, her eyes rolling up in a strange way under
her eyelids, and her body becoming rigid. She then begins to talk
very rapidly, usually in voices other than her own. At the same time
one or both of her hands may become active, and if slates and pencils
are provided they will then write messages simultaneously with
and quite independently of the flow of words from her mouth. By many
she is considered an even more remarkable medium than the celebrated
Mrs. Piper. It was one of these messages, the one written by her
left hand, that Mr. Vincey now had before him. It consisted of eight
words written disconnectedly: "George Bessel . . . trial excavn. . . .
Baker Street . . . help . . . starvation." Curiously enough, neither
|
