| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson: with which she met the sea, that the peril was by no means over.
Dick, who had been thrown down by the concussion and half drowned,
rose wading to his knees in the swamped well of the stern, and
crept to the old helmsman's side.
"Lawless," he said, "we do all depend on you; y' are a brave,
steady man, indeed, and crafty in the management of ships; I shall
put three sure men to watch upon your safety."
"Bootless, my master, bootless," said the steersman, peering
forward through the dark. "We come every moment somewhat clearer
of these sandbanks; with every moment, then, the sea packeth upon
us heavier, and for all these whimperers, they will presently be on
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe: says she, 'not for all he is worth in the world. I have kept your
counsel in worse things than these; sure you may trust me in
this.' So I said no more at that time.
She laid her scheme another way, and without acquainting me
of it, but she was resolved to find it out if possible. So she
goes to a certain friend of hers who was acquainted in the
family that she guessed at, and told her friend she had some
extraordinary business with such a gentleman (who, by the
way, was no less than a baronet, and of a very good family),
and that she knew not how to come at him without somebody
to introduce her. Her friend promised her very readily to do
Moll Flanders |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Complete Angler by Izaak Walton: other fish. And first I shall tell you of the Minnow or Penk.
The MINNOW hath, when he is in perfect season, and not sick, which
is only presently after spawning, a kind of dappled or waved colour,
like to a panther, on its sides, inclining to a greenish or sky-colour; his
belly being milk white; and his back almost black or blackish. He is a
sharp biter at a small worm, and in hot weather makes excellent sport
for young anglers, or boys, or women that love that recreation. And in
the spring they make of them excellent Minnow-tansies; for being
washed well in salt, and their heads and tails cut off, and their guts
taken out, and not washed after, they prove excellent for that use; that
is, being fried with yolk of eggs, the flowers of cowslips and of
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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 Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley: Drake and us so cowardly at the Straits of Magellan."
"Duty must not wait for private quarrels, even though they be just
ones, lad: but he will not be your general. When you come to the
marshal, or the Lord Deputy, give either of them this letter, and
they will set you work,--and hard work too, I warrant.
"I want nothing better."
"Right, lad; the best reward for having wrought well already, is to
have more to do; and he that has been faithful over a few things,
must find his account in being made ruler over many things. That
is the true and heroical rest, which only is worthy of gentlemen
and sons of God. As for those who, either in this world or the
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