| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle: well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just
as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare."
"Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather,
returned to France?"
"Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we
should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest
and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever
happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite
right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion.
Mother was all in his favor from the first and was even fonder
of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne: years, in another. As for the bargain, it was wrinkled slyness
and craft pitted against native truth and sagacity.
"Was not that well done?" asked Phoebe, laughing, when the
customer was gone.
"Nicely done, indeed, child!" answered Hepzibah."I could not
have gone through with it nearly so well. As you say, it must be
a knack that belongs to you on the mother's side."
It is a very genuine admiration, that with which persons too shy
or too awkward to take a due part in the bustling world regard
the real actors in life's stirring scenes; so genuine, in fact,
that the former are usually fain to make it palatable to their
House of Seven Gables |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Egmont by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: contradiction; there he fastens his line; and, let the poor devil lose his self-
possession, say too much here, or too little there, or, Heaven knows from
what whim or other, let him withhold some trifling circumstance, or at any
moment give way to fear--then we're on the right track, and, I assure you,
no beggar-woman seeks for rags among the rubbish with more care than
such a fabricator of rogues, from trifling, crooked, disjointed, misplaced,
misprinted, and concealed facts and information, acknowledged or denied,
endeavours at length to patch up a scarecrow, by means of which he may
at least hang his victim in effigy; and the poor devil may thank Heaven if
he is in a condition to see himself hanged.
Jetter. He has a ready tongue of his own.
Egmont |
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 Sarrasine by Honore de Balzac: the depths of an unknown sanctuary, this familiar spirit suddenly
emerged, furtively as it were, unexpectedly, and appeared in the
salons like the fairies of old, who alighted from their winged dragons
to disturb festivities to which they had not been invited. Only the
most experienced observers could divine the anxiety, at such times, of
the masters of the house, who were peculiarly skilful in concealing
their feelings. But sometimes, while dancing a quadrille, the too
ingenuous Marianina would cast a terrified glance at the old man, whom
she watched closely from the circle of dancers. Or perhaps Filippo
would leave his place and glide through the crowd to where he stood,
and remain beside him, affectionate and watchful, as if the touch of
|
