| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Sportsman by Xenophon: successful in his capture, he was won a victory over a hostile brood;
or failing, in the first place, it is a feather in his cap that his
attempt is made against enemies of the whole community; and secondly,
that it is not to the detriment of man nor for love of gain that the
field is taken; and thirdly, as the outcome of the very attempt, the
hunter is improved in many respects, and all the wiser: by what means
we will explain. Were it not for the very excess of his pains, his
well-reasoned devices, his manifold precautions, he would never
capture the quarry at all; since the antagonists he deals with are
doing battle for bare life and in their native haunts,[26] and are
consequently in great force. So that if he fails to overmatch 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 The Talisman by Walter Scott: his decease. Their gloomy apprehensions spread themselves to the
warders without, who paced about in downcast and silent
contemplation, or, resting on their halberds, stood motionless on
their post, rather like armed trophies than living warriors.
"So thou hast no better news to bring me from without, Sir
Thomas!" said the King, after a long and perturbed silence,
spent in the feverish agitation which we have endeavoured to
describe. "All our knights turned women, and our ladies become
devotees, and neither, a spark of valour nor of gallantry to
enlighten a camp which contains the choicest of Europe's
chivalry--ha!"
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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 A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy: mind at all if you have.'
'No, I never was,' Knight instantly and heartily replied.
'Elfride'--and there was a certain happy pride in his tone--'I am
twelve years older than you, and I have been about the world, and,
in a way, into society, and you have not. And yet I am not so
unfit for you as strict-thinking people might imagine, who would
assume the difference in age to signify most surely an equal
addition to my practice in love-making.'
Elfride shivered.
'You are cold--is the wind too much for you?'
'No,' she said gloomily. The belief which had been her sheet-
A Pair of Blue Eyes |
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 Duchess of Padua by Oscar Wilde: The gentle Duchess for whose hand I yielded
Three of the fairest towns in Italy,
Pisa, and Genoa, and Orvieto.
DUCHESS
Promised, my Lord, not yielded: in that matter
Brake you your word as ever.
DUKE
You wrong us, Madam,
There were state reasons.
DUCHESS
What state reasons are there
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