| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Second Home by Honore de Balzac: women who constituted the circle in which she moved--for at that time
it was not yet "the thing" for young women to be religious as a matter
of fashion--all admired Madame de Granville's piety, and regarded her,
not indeed as a virgin, but as a martyr. They blamed not the wife's
scruples, but the barbarous philoprogenitiveness of the husband.
Granville, by insensible degrees, overdone with work, bereft of
conjugal consolations, and weary of a world in which he wandered
alone, by the time he was two-and-thirty had sunk into the Slough of
Despond. He hated life. Having too lofty a notion of the
responsibilities imposed on him by his position to set the example of
a dissipated life, he tried to deaden feeling by hard study, and began
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: these young enthusiasts are little jades? Or imagine a poet rushing
along the brilliant path in search of her, and finding at the end of
it an old Englishwoman sitting on a mile-stone and offering you her
hand! Or suppose this post-office angel should really be a rather ugly
girl in quest of a husband? Ah, my boy! the effervescence then goes
down."
"I begin to perceive," said La Briere, smiling, "that there is
something poisonous in glory, as there is in certain dazzling
flowers."
"And then," resumed Canalis, "all these women, even when they are
simple-minded, have ideals, and you can't satisfy them. They never say
Modeste Mignon |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Songs of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: XXVIII. TO AN ISLAND PRINCESS - Since long ago, a child at home
XXIX. TO KALAKAUA - The Sliver Ship, my King - that was her name
XXX. TO PRINCESS KAIULANI - Forth form her land to mine she goes
XXXI. TO MOTHER MARYANNE - To see the infinite pity of this place
XXXII. IN MEMORIAM E. H. - I knew a silver head was bright beyond compare
XXXIII. TO MY WIFE - Long must elapse ere you behold again
XXXIV. TO MY OLD FAMILIARS - Do you remember - can we e'er forget?
XXXV. The tropics vanish, and meseems that I
XXXVI. TO S. C. - I heard the pulse of the besieging sea
XXXVII. THE HOUSE OF TEMBINOKA - Let us, who part like brothers, part
like bards
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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 Marie by H. Rider Haggard: should bring about the death of Hans, to whom the story would certainly
be traced.
As he was the solitary witness to the plot, it seemed to her that he
would scarcely be allowed to escape to repeat it far and wide.
Especially was this so, as the unexplained death of a Hottentot,
suspected of treachery like his master, was not a matter that would have
been thought worth notice in those rough and bloody times. She may have
been right, or she may have been wrong, but in weighing her decision it
must always be borne in mind that she was, and until the end remained,
in utter ignorance of Marie's heroic design to go to her death in place
of me.
Marie |
