| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The War in the Air by H. G. Wells: down, handle-bars down, backbones curved--was a revelation
in the possibilities of the Smallways blood.
Go-ahead Times!
Old Smallways would sit over the fire mumbling of the greatness
of other days, of old Sir Peter, who drove his coach to Brighton
and back in eight-and-twenty hours, of old Sir Peter's white
top-hats, of Lady Bone, who never set foot to ground except to
walk in the garden, of the great, prize-fights at Crawley. He
talked of pink and pig-skin breeches, of foxes at Ring's Bottom,
where now the County Council pauper lunatics were enclosed, of
Lady Bone's chintzes and crinolines. Nobody heeded him. The
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Astoria by Washington Irving: with circumstances hereafter to be related, we shall specify it
more particularly.
About two years before the time of which we are treating, Crooks
and M'Lellan were ascending the river in boats with a party of
about forty men, bound on one of their trading expeditions to the
upper tribes. In one of the bends of the river, where the channel
made a deep curve under impending banks, they suddenly heard
yells and shouts above them, and beheld the cliffs overhead
covered with armed savages. It was a band of Sioux warriors,
upwards of six hundred strong. They brandished their weapons in a
menacing manner, and ordered the boats to turn back and land
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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 Father Goriot by Honore de Balzac: can go.' The gentleman looked angry, I thought. I was just going
away when Mme. de Restaud came out into an ante-chamber through a
door that I did not notice, and said, 'Christophe, tell my father
that my husband wants me to discuss some matters with him, and I
cannot leave the house, the life or death of my children is at
stake; but as soon as it is over, I will come.' As for Madame la
Baronne, that is another story! I could not speak to her either,
and I did not even see her. Her waiting-woman said, 'Ah yes, but
madame only came back from a ball at a quarter to five this
morning; she is asleep now, and if I wake her before mid-day she
will be cross. As soon as she rings, I will go and tell her that
Father Goriot |
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 Oscar Wilde Miscellaneous by Oscar Wilde: GUIDO. Take off your hands
Take off your damned hands. Loose me, I say!
SIMONE. Nay, you are caught in such a cunning vice
That nothing will avail you, and your life
Narrowed into a single point of shame
Ends with that shame and ends most shamefully.
GUIDO. Oh! let me have a priest before I die!
SIMONE. What wouldst thou have a priest for? Tell thy sins
To God, whom thou shalt see this very night
And then no more for ever. Tell thy sins
To Him who is most just, being pitiless,
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