| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin: While I was, as afore mention'd, detain'd at New York, I receiv'd
all the accounts of the provisions, etc., that I had furnish'd
to Braddock, some of which accounts could not sooner be obtain'd
from the different persons I had employ'd to assist in the business.
I presented them to Lord Loudoun, desiring to be paid the ballance.
He caus'd them to be regularly examined by the proper officer, who,
after comparing every article with its voucher, certified them
to be right; and the balance due for which his lordship promis'd
to give me an order on the paymaster. This was, however, put off
from time to time; and, tho' I call'd often for it by appointment,
I did not get it. At length, just before my departure, he told me
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Start in Life by Honore de Balzac: are learning your employment?"
Here the mother wandered, like other women, into wordy lamentation:
What should she do now to feed the family, deprived of the benefits
Moreau's stewardship had enabled him to send her from Presles? Oscar
had overthrown his benefactor's prosperity! As commerce and a
government clerkship were now impossible, there remained only the
professions of notary and lawyer, either barristers or solicitors, and
sheriffs. But for those he must study at least three years, and pay
considerable sums for entrance fees, examinations, certificates, and
diplomas; and here again the question of maintenance presented itself.
"Oscar," she said, in conclusion, "in you I had put all my pride, all
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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 Symposium by Plato: which they have always had and still have over me. For my heart leaps
within me more than that of any Corybantian reveller, and my eyes rain
tears when I hear them. And I observe that many others are affected in the
same manner. I have heard Pericles and other great orators, and I thought
that they spoke well, but I never had any similar feeling; my soul was not
stirred by them, nor was I angry at the thought of my own slavish state.
But this Marsyas has often brought me to such a pass, that I have felt as
if I could hardly endure the life which I am leading (this, Socrates, you
will admit); and I am conscious that if I did not shut my ears against him,
and fly as from the voice of the siren, my fate would be like that of
others,--he would transfix me, and I should grow old sitting at his feet.
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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 The Muse of the Department by Honore de Balzac: and dragged off to some jollification; more than once he found himself
at the house of a friend's mistress in the heart of bohemia. He again
saw women brilliantly young and splendidly dressed, in whom economy
seemed treason to their youth and power. Dinah, in spite of her
striking beauty, after nursing her baby for three months, could not
stand comparison with these perishable blossoms, so soon faded, but so
showy as long as they live rooted in opulence.
Home life had, nevertheless, a strong attraction for Etienne. In three
months the mother and daughter, with the help of the cook from
Sancerre and of little Pamela, had given the apartment a quite changed
appearance. The journalist found his breakfast and his dinner served
The Muse of the Department |
