| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: and distant past; but to this day I remember the dark-brown feet,
hands, and faces of two of these men whose hearts had been broken
by the sea. They were lying very still on their sides on the
bottom boards between the thwarts, curled up like dogs. My boat's
crew, leaning over the looms of their oars, stared and listened as
if at the play. The master of the brig looked up suddenly to ask
me what day it was.
They had lost the date. When I told him it was Sunday, the 22nd,
he frowned, making some mental calculation, then nodded twice sadly
to himself, staring at nothing.
His aspect was miserably unkempt and wildly sorrowful. Had it not
The Mirror of the Sea |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Royalty Restored/London Under Charles II by J. Fitzgerald Molloy: confusion. And amongst the figures crouching round the tables of
this hell, that of my Lord St. Albans was conspicuous. So great,
indeed, was his passion for gambling, that when approaching his
eightieth year, and quite blind, he was unable to renounce his
love for cards, but with the help of a servant who named them to
him, indulged himself in this way as of yore.
As may be expected, disputes, frequently ending in duels,
continually arose betwixt those who gambled. Although the king
had, on his restoration, issued a proclamation against this
common practice, threatening such as engaged in it with
displeasure, declaring them incapable of holding any office in
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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 Some Reminiscences by Joseph Conrad: matters of civil life. Under his taciturn, phlegmatic behaviour
was hidden a faculty of short-lived passionate anger. I suspect
he had no talent for narrative; but it seemed to afford him
sombre satisfaction to declare that he was the last man to ride
over the bridge of the river Elster after the battle of Leipsic.
Lest some construction favourable to his valour should be put on
the fact he condescended to explain how it came to pass. It
seems that shortly after the retreat began he was sent back to
the town where some divisions of the French Army (and amongst
them the Polish corps of Prince Joseph Poniatowski), jammed
hopelessly in the streets, were being simply exterminated by the
Some Reminiscences |
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 Youth by Joseph Conrad: broom-handle, I believe. I did not offer to go and fetch
up my shovel, which was left down below.
"Things began to look bad. We put the long-boat
into the water. The second boat was ready to swing out.
We had also another, a fourteen-foot thing, on davits
aft, where it was quite safe.
"Then behold, the smoke suddenly decreased. We re-
doubled our efforts to flood the bottom of the ship. In
two days there was no smoke at all. Everybody was on
the broad grin. This was on a Friday. On Saturday no
work, but sailing the ship of course was done. The men
Youth |
