| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe: calling upon him for the Lord's sake to come back, and entreating the
help of others to bring him back, but all in vain, nobody daring to lay
a hand upon him or to come near him?
This was a most grievous and afflicting thing to me, who saw it all
from my own windows; for all this while the poor afflicted man was,
as I observed it, even then in the utmost agony of pain, having (as they
said) two swellings upon him which could not be brought to break or
to suppurate; but, by laying strong caustics on them, the surgeons had,
it seems, hopes to break them - which caustics were then upon him,
burning his flesh as with a hot iron. I cannot say what became of this
poor man, but I think he continued roving about in that manner till he
A Journal of the Plague Year |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Blix by Frank Norris: puzzled, and at the earliest opportunity Condy himself said to the
retired costume reader:
"Speaking of fortifications, Mrs. Hoskins, Gibraltar now--that's a
wonderful rock, isn't it?"
"Rock!" she queried. "I thought it was an island."
"Oh, no; it's a fortress. They have a castle there--a castle,
something like--well, like the old Schloss at Heidelberg. Did you
ever hear about or read about Heidelberg University?"
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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 Iliad by Homer: aloud. Hector then aimed at Idomeneus son of Deucalion as he was
standing on his chariot, and very narrowly missed him, but the
spear hit Coiranus, a follower and charioteer of Meriones who had
come with him from Lyctus. Idomeneus had left the ships on foot
and would have afforded a great triumph to the Trojans if
Coiranus had not driven quickly up to him, he therefore brought
life and rescue to Idomeneus, but himself fell by the hand of
murderous Hector. For Hector hit him on the jaw under the ear;
the end of the spear drove out his teeth and cut his tongue in
two pieces, so that he fell from his chariot and let the reins
fall to the ground. Meriones gathered them up from the ground and
The Iliad |
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 The Tapestried Chamber by Walter Scott: details which these accounts conveyed to him. They were, indeed,
of the kind which are usually found in an old family gallery.
Here was a Cavalier who had ruined the estate in the royal cause;
there a fine lady who had reinstated it by contracting a match
with a wealthy Roundhead. There hung a gallant who had been in
danger for corresponding with the exiled Court at Saint
Germain's; here one who had taken arms for William at the
Revolution; and there a third that had thrown his weight
alternately into the scale of Whig and Tory.
While lord Woodville was cramming these words into his guest's
ear, "against the stomach of his sense," they gained the middle
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