| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith: running away by night, without knowing one inch of the way.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. I wish we were at home again. I never met so many
accidents in so short a journey. Drenched in the mud, overturned in a
ditch, stuck fast in a slough, jolted to a jelly, and at last to lose
our way. Whereabouts do you think we are, Tony?
TONY. By my guess we should come upon Crackskull Common, about forty
miles from home.
MRS. HARDCASTLE. O lud! O lud! The most notorious spot in all the
country. We only want a robbery to make a complete night on't.
TONY. Don't be afraid, mamma, don't be afraid. Two of the five that
kept here are hanged, and the other three may not find us. Don't be
She Stoops to Conquer |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Research Magnificent by H. G. Wells: did with my mother."
"No," said Amanda, "it isn't so easy as that."
She seemed to come to a decision.
"Pip," she said. "I want to talk to--HIM--alone."
Easton's brown eyes were filled with distress and perplexity. "But
why?" he asked.
"I do," she said.
"But this is a thing for US."
"Pip, I want to talk to him alone. There is something--something I
can't say before you. . . ."
Sir Philip rose slowly to his feet.
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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 The Wrong Box by Stevenson & Osbourne: all my life.'
'You'll find you'll have to, my boy,' was Michael's easy comment,
and he began calling for the waiter, with whom he at once resumed
a sparkling conversation.
It was a downcast little man that followed him. 'Of course he is
very clever, but can I trust him in such a state?' he asked
himself. And when they were once more in a hansom, he took heart
of grace.
'Don't you think,' he faltered, 'it would be wiser, considering
all things, to put this business off?'
'Put off till tomorrow what can be done today?' cried Michael,
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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 Art of Writing by Robert Louis Stevenson: nature once more easily leading us; for the necessary,
because the efficacious, facts are those which are most
interesting to the natural mind of man. Those which are
coloured, picturesque, human, and rooted in morality, and
those, on the other hand, which are clear, indisputable, and
a part of science, are alone vital in importance, seizing by
their interest, or useful to communicate. So far as the
writer merely narrates, he should principally tell of these.
He should tell of the kind and wholesome and beautiful
elements of our life; he should tell unsparingly of the evil
and sorrow of the present, to move us with instances: he
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