| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Middlemarch by George Eliot: in abeyance; but in his niece Dorothea it glowed alike through faults
and virtues, turning sometimes into impatience of her uncle's talk
or his way of "letting things be" on his estate, and making her long
all the more for the time when she would be of age and have some
command of money for generous schemes. She was regarded as an heiress;
for not only had the sisters seven hundred a-year each from
their parents, but if Dorothea married and had a son, that son would
inherit Mr. Brooke's estate, presumably worth about three thousand
a-year--a rental which seemed wealth to provincial families,
still discussing Mr. Peel's late conduct on the Catholic question,
innocent of future gold-fields, and of that gorgeous plutocracy
Middlemarch |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner: "Yes," said Bonaparte, "on the mother's side, and that is how we are
related. There wasn't a man to beat him," said Bonaparte, stretching
himself--"not a man except the Duke of Wellington. And it's a strange
coincidence," added Bonaparte, bending forward, "but he was a connection of
mine. His nephew, the Duke of Wellington's nephew, married a cousin of
mine. She was a woman! See her at one of the court balls--amber satin--
daisies in her hair. Worth going a hundred miles to look at her! Often
seen her there myself, sir!"
The German moved the leather thongs in and out, and thought of the strange
vicissitudes of human life, which might bring the kinsman of dukes and
emperors to his humble room.
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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 The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne: There was, however, nothing to show that a shipwreck had taken place
recently. It is true that, as Gideon Spilett observed, any remains of it
might have drifted out to sea, and they must not take it for granted that
because they could find no traces of it, a ship had not been castaway on
the coast.
The reporter's argument was just, and besides, the incident of the bullet
proved that a shot must have been fired in Lincoln Island within three
months.
It was already five o'clock, and there were still two miles between the
settlers and the extremity of the Serpentine Peninsula. It was evident that
after having reached Reptile End, Harding and his companions would not have
The Mysterious Island |
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 Second Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known
to the public as to myself; and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory
and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction
in regard to it is ventured.
On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts
were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it--
all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered
from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war,
insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war--
seeking to dissolve the Union, and divide effects, by negotiation.
Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather
Second Inaugural Address |
