| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Persuasion by Jane Austen: he might choose to model his household."
Sir Walter would quit Kellynch Hall; and after a very few days more
of doubt and indecision, the great question of whither he should go
was settled, and the first outline of this important change made out.
There had been three alternatives, London, Bath, or another house
in the country. All Anne's wishes had been for the latter.
A small house in their own neighbourhood, where they might still have
Lady Russell's society, still be near Mary, and still have the pleasure
of sometimes seeing the lawns and groves of Kellynch, was the object
of her ambition. But the usual fate of Anne attended her,
in having something very opposite from her inclination fixed on.
Persuasion |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum: the Canary, "but as I am a fairy I know something of
magic, and though I am now transformed into a bird's
shape, I am sure I can conjure up a breakfast that will
satisfy you."
"If you can work magic, why don't you break the
enchantment you are under and return to your proper
form?" inquired the beast doubtingly.
"I haven't the power to do that," answered the
Canary, "for Mrs. Yoop, the Giantess who transformed
me, used a peculiar form of yookoohoo magic that is
unknown to me. However, she could not deprive me of my
The Tin Woodman of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: the wonderful "controlling destination compass," as the
thing was called.
"For example," continued Carthoris, "I have an all-
night trip before me, as to-night. I set the pointer here
upon the right-hand dial which represents the eastern
hemisphere of Barsoom, so that the point rests upon
the exact latitude and longitude of Helium. Then I
start the engine, roll up in my sleeping silks and furs,
and with lights burning, race through the air toward
Helium, confident that at the appointed hour I shall drop
gently toward the landing-stage upon my own palace,
Thuvia, Maid of Mars |
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 Intentions by Oscar Wilde: church showed sharply out with blinding whiteness. I thought of
Wordsworth's 'Lines written in March.'
However, we must not forget that the cultivated young man who
penned these lines, and who was so susceptible to Wordsworthian
influences, was also, as I said at the beginning of this memoir,
one of the most subtle and secret poisoners of this or any age.
How he first became fascinated by this strange sin he does not tell
us, and the diary in which he carefully noted the results of his
terrible experiments and the methods that he adopted, has
unfortunately been lost to us. Even in later days, too, he was
always reticent on the matter, and preferred to speak about 'The
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