| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Hamlet by William Shakespeare: More honour'd in the breach, then the obseruance.
Enter Ghost.
Hor. Looke my Lord, it comes
Ham. Angels and Ministers of Grace defend vs:
Be thou a Spirit of health, or Goblin damn'd,
Bring with thee ayres from Heauen, or blasts from Hell,
Be thy euents wicked or charitable,
Thou com'st in such a questionable shape
That I will speake to thee. Ile call thee Hamlet,
King, Father, Royall Dane: Oh, oh, answer me,
Let me not burst in Ignorance; but tell
Hamlet |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Fables by Robert Louis Stevenson: for this world, as for the next; it is not against life; in short,
it is against death that I have fitted you out. And when you come
to die, you will give me news of my paint."
"Oh!" cried the young man, "I had not understood that, and it seems
a little disappointing. But there is no doubt all is for the best:
and in the meanwhile, I shall be obliged if you will help me to
undo the evil I have brought on innocent persons."
"That is none of my business," said the physician; "but if you will
go round the corner to the police office, I feel sure it will
afford you relief to give yourself up."
Six weeks later, the physician was called to the town gaol.
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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 Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: sight of her murderer, a young angel with such a clear brow, such red
lips and white teeth, such a winning smile. There they stood before
their judge, he scrutinizing them much as some fifteenth-century
Dominican inquisitor might have peered into the dungeons of the Holy
Office while the torture was administered to two Moors.
"The Countess spoke tremulously. 'Sir,' she said, 'is there any way of
obtaining the value of these diamonds, and of keeping the right of
repurchase?' She held out a jewel-case.
" 'Yes, madame,' I put in, and came forwards.
"She looked at me, and a shudder ran through her as she recognized me,
and gave me the glance which means, 'Say nothing of this,' all the
Gobseck |
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 Selected Writings of Guy De Maupassant by Guy De Maupassant: the day, the strange discovery of the morning, that grotesque and
passionate attachment for me, the recollections which that
revelation had suddenly called up, recollections at once charming
and perplexing, perhaps, also, that look which the servant had
cast on me at the announcement of my departure--all these things,
mixed up and combined, put me now in an excited bodily state,
with the tickling sensation of kisses on my lips, and in my veins
something which urged me on to commit some folly.
"Night having come on, casting its dark shadows under the trees,
I descried Celeste, who had gone to shut the hen-coops, at the
other end of the inclosure. I darted toward her, running so
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