| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Wrecker by Stevenson & Osbourne: that I was somehow fortifying Carthew. I told myself, I say;
but I was no such fool as to believe it, even then. In these
circumstances I displayed the two chief qualities of my
character on the largest scale--my helplessness and my
instinctive love of procrastination--and fell upon a course of
action so ridiculous that I blush when I recall it.
We reached Liverpool one forenoon, the rain falling thickly and
insidiously on the filthy town. I had no plans, beyond a
sensible unwillingness to let my rascal escape; and I ended by
going to the same inn with him, dining with him, walking with
him in the wet streets, and hearing with him in a penny gaff
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Faraday as a Discoverer by John Tyndall: in utter ignorance of the man--for unhappily for them and us,
Ministers of State in England are only too often ignorant of great
Englishmen--his Lordship said something that must have deeply
displeased his visitor. All the circumstances were once
communicated to me, but I have forgotten the details. The term
'humbug,' I think, was incautiously employed by his Lordship, and
other expressions were used of a similar kind. Faraday quitted the
Minister with his own resolves, and that evening he left his card
and a short and decisive note at the residence of Lord Melbourne,
stating that he had manifestly mistaken his Lordship's intention of
honouring science in his person, and declining to have anything
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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 Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: houses, and the price and quality of the liquor. On the other
hand, Franklin could not cross the Channel without making
observations useful to mankind. While many a vacant thoughtless
youth is whirled through Europe without gaining a single idea
worth crossing the street for, the observing eye and inquiring
mind find matter of improvement and delight in every ramble. You,
then, William, continue to use your eyes. And you, Robert, learn
that eyes were given to you to use."
So said Mr. Andrews: and so I say, dear boys--and so says he who
has the charge of you--to you. Therefore I beg all good boys
among you to think over this story, and settle in their own minds
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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 A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde: and the lizards immensely, and thought that the flowers were the
most marvellous things in the whole world, except of course the
Infanta, but then she had given him the beautiful white rose, and
she loved him, and that made a great difference. How he wished
that he had gone back with her! She would have put him on her
right hand, and smiled at him, and he would have never left her
side, but would have made her his playmate, and taught her all
kinds of delightful tricks. For though he had never been in a
palace before, he knew a great many wonderful things. He could
make little cages out of rushes for the grasshoppers to sing in,
and fashion the long jointed bamboo into the pipe that Pan loves to
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