| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom by William and Ellen Craft: through the window, and, to my great astonishment,
I saw the cabinet-maker with whom I had worked so
long, on the platform. He stepped up to the ticket-
seller, and asked some question, and then com-
menced looking rapidly through the passengers,
and into the carriages. Fully believing that we
were caught, I shrank into a corner, turned my
face from the door, and expected in a moment to
be dragged out. The cabinet-maker looked into
my master's carriage, but did not know him in his
new attire, and, as God would have it, before he
Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift: consequently pine away from want of nourishment, to a degree,
that if at any time they are accidentally hired to common labour,
they have not strength to perform it, and thus the country and
themselves are happily delivered from the evils to come.
I have too long digressed, and therefore shall return to my
subject. I think the advantages by the proposal which I have made
are obvious and many, as well as of the highest importance.
For first, as I have already observed, it would greatly lessen
the number of Papists, with whom we are yearly over-run, being
the principal breeders of the nation, as well as our most
dangerous enemies, and who stay at home on purpose with a design
A Modest Proposal |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, etc. by Oscar Wilde: CHAPTER VI
WHEN the wedding took place, some three weeks later, St. Peter's
was crowded with a perfect mob of smart people. The service was
read in the most impressive manner by the Dean of Chichester, and
everybody agreed that they had never seen a handsomer couple than
the bride and bridegroom. They were more than handsome, however -
they were happy. Never for a single moment did Lord Arthur regret
all that he had suffered for Sybil's sake, while she, on her side,
gave him the best things a woman can give to any man - worship,
tenderness, and love. For them romance was not killed by reality.
They always felt young.
|
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 Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving: beauty, but her vast expectations. She was withal a little of a
coquette, as might be perceived even in her dress, which was a
mixture of ancient and modern fashions, as most suited to set of
her charms. She wore the ornaments of pure yellow gold, which her
great-great-grandmother had brought over from Saar dam; the
tempting stomacher of the olden time, and withal a provokingly
short petticoat, to display the prettiest foot and ankle in the
country round.
Ichahod Crane had a soft and foolish heart towards the sex;
and it is not to be wondered at, that so tempting a morsel soon
found favor in his eyes, more especially after he had visited her
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow |
