| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tour Through Eastern Counties of England by Daniel Defoe: absence of King Henry V. and the minority of Henry VI., and to his
last hour the safeguard of the whole nation, and darling of the
people, was basely murdered here; by whose death the gate was
opened to that dreadful war between the houses of Lancaster and
York, which ended in the confusion of that very race who are
supposed to have contrived that murder.
From St. Edmund's Bury I returned by Stowmarket and Needham to
Ipswich, that I might keep as near the coast as was proper to my
designed circuit or journey; and from Ipswich, to visit the sea
again, I went to Woodbridge, and from thence to Orford, on the sea
side.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson: resting on one hand, wrapped warmly in a sanguine-coloured cloak.
At the lower end of the room about a dozen of his men stood sentry
over the door or lay asleep on benches; and somewhat nearer hand, a
young lad, apparently of twelve or thirteen, was stretched in a
mantle on the floor. The host of the Sun stood before the great
man.
"Now, mark me, mine host," Sir Daniel said, "follow but mine
orders, and I shall be your good lord ever. I must have good men
for head boroughs, and I will have Adam-a-More high constable; see
to it narrowly. If other men be chosen, it shall avail you
nothing; rather it shall be found to your sore cost. For those
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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 Vailima Letters by Robert Louis Stevenson: 'The only one,' said Innes.
'And has one man done all this?'
'Three times,' said the trusty Innes. 'It has had to be made
three times, and when Mr. Stevenson came, it was a track like
what you see beyond.'
'This must be put right,' said the Chief Justice.
SUNDAY.
The truth is, I broke down yesterday almost as soon as I
began, and have been surreptitiously finishing the entry to-
day. For all that I was much better, ate all the time, and
had no fever. The day was otherwise uneventful. I am
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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 The Alkahest by Honore de Balzac: candelabra exactly like those on the mantle-shelf; and a round table
stood in the middle of the room. Along the walls card-tables were
symmetrically placed. On two gilded consoles with marble slabs there
stood, at the period when this history begins, two glass globes filled
with water, in which, above a bed of sand and shells, red and gold and
silver fish were swimming about. The room was both brilliant and
sombre. The ceiling necessarily absorbed the light and reflected none.
Although on the garden side all was bright and glowing, and the
sunshine danced upon the ebony carvings, the windows on the court-yard
admitted so little light that the gold threads in the lapis-lazuli
scarcely glittered on the opposite wall. This parlor, which could be
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