| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Augsburg Confession by Philip Melanchthon: ourselves, showing what manner of doctrine from the Holy
Scriptures and the pure Word of God has been up to this time set
forth in our lands, dukedoms, dominions, and cities, and taught
in our churches.
And if the other Electors, Princes, and Estates. of the Empire
will, according to the said Imperial proposition, present similar
writings, to wit, in Latin and German, giving their opinions in
this matter of religion, we, with the Princes and friends
aforesaid, here before Your Imperial Majesty, our most clement
Lord are prepared to confer amicably concerning all possible ways
and means, in order that we may come together, as far as this may
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Madame Firmiani by Honore de Balzac: the father of Monsieur de Camps, I reply by asking what you would
think of a woman if to such a question she answered YOU? To avow our
love for him we love, when he loves us--ah! that may be; but even when
we are certain of being loved forever, believe me, monsieur, it is an
effort for us, and a reward to him. To say to another!--"
She did not end her sentence, but rose, bowed to the old man, and
withdrew into her private apartments, the doors of which, opening and
closing behind her, had a language of their own to his sagacious ears.
"Ah! the mischief!" thought he; "what a woman! she is either a sly one
or an angel"; and he got into his hired coach, the horses of which
were stamping on the pavement of the silent courtyard, while the
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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 Alexandria and her Schools by Charles Kingsley: fact, and Nature, and the eternal laws? Faith to be strong must be
faith in something which is not one's self; faith in something eternal,
something objective, something true, which would exist just as much
though we and all the world disbelieved it. The strength of belief
comes from that which is believed in; if you separate it from that, it
becomes a mere self-opinion, a sensation of positiveness; and what sort
of strength that will give, history will tell us in the tragedies of the
Jews who opposed Titus, of the rabble who followed Walter the Penniless
to the Crusades, of the Munster Anabaptists, and many another sad page
of human folly. It may give the fury of idiots; not the deliberate
might of valiant men. Let us pass this by, then; believing that faith
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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 Ursula by Honore de Balzac: in each ear. The blood whistled in his temples as he committed the
theft; cold as the weather was, his shirt was wet on his back; his
legs gave way under him and he fell into a chair in the salon as if an
axe had fallen on his head.
"How the inheritance of money loosens a man's tongue! Did you hear
Minoret?" said Massin to Cremiere as they hurried through the town.
"'Go here, go there,' just as if he knew everything."
"Yes, for a dull beast like him he had a certain air of--"
"Stop!" said Massin, alarmed at a sudden thought. "His wife is there;
they've got some plan! Do you do both errands; I'll go back."
Just as the post master fell into the chair he saw at the gate the
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