| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from 'Twixt Land & Sea by Joseph Conrad: gentle Schultz, with his idiosyncrasy of naive pilfering, so
absurdly straightforward that, even in the people who had suffered
from it, it aroused nothing more than a sort of amused
exasperation? He was really impossible. His lot evidently should
have been a half-starved, mysterious, but by no means tragic
existence as a mild-eyed, inoffensive beachcomber on the fringe of
native life. There are occasions when the irony of fate, which
some people profess to discover in the working out of our lives,
wears the aspect of crude and savage jesting.
I shook my head over the manes of Schultz, and went on with my
friend's letter. It told me how the brig on the reef, looted by
'Twixt Land & Sea |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Manon Lescaut by Abbe Prevost: doubt it.
"`Very well,' replied I, `I do so no longer; and with this
conviction, I may well defy all my enemies. Through the
influence of my family, I can ensure my own liberation from the
Chatelet; and my life will be of little use, and of short
duration, if I do not succeed in rescuing you.'
"We arrived at the prison, where they put us into separate
cells. This blow was the less severe, because I was prepared for
it. I recommended Manon to the attention of the porter, telling
him that I was a person of some distinction, and promising him a
considerable recompense. I embraced my dearest mistress before
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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 Poems of Goethe, Bowring, Tr. by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: As if to bid the streaky vapour fly:
At once it seemed to yield to her command,
Contracted, and no mist then met mine eye.
My glance once more survey'd the smiling land,
Unclouded and serene appear'd the sky.
Nought but a veil of purest white she held,
And round her in a thousand folds it swell'd.
"I know thee, and I know thy wav'ring will.
I know the good that lives and glows in thee!"--
Thus spake she, and methinks I hear her still--
"The prize long destined, now receive from me;
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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 To-morrow by Joseph Conrad: "Be a lawyer's clerk and rot here--in some such
place as this?" he cried in contempt. "What! if
the old man set me up in a home to-day, I would
kick it down about my ears--or else die there be-
fore the third day was out."
"And where else is it that you hope to die?"
"In the bush somewhere; in the sea; on a blamed
mountain-top for choice. At home? Yes! the
world's my home; but I expect I'll die in a hospital
some day. What of that? Any place is good
enough, as long as I've lived; and I've been every-
To-morrow |
