| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Peter Pan by James M. Barrie: unnerve him; merely to avoid spilling. Then one long gloating
look he cast upon his victim, and turning, wormed his way with
difficulty up the tree. As he emerged at the top he looked the
very spirit of evil breaking from its hole. Donning his hat at
its most rakish angle, he wound his cloak around him, holding one
end in front as if to conceal his person from the night, of which
it was the blackest part, and muttering strangely to himself,
stole away through the trees.
Peter slept on. The light guttered [burned to edges] and
went out, leaving the tenement in darkness; but still he slept.
It must have been not less than ten o'clock by the crocodile,
Peter Pan |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Little Britain by Washington Irving: among the ancient sibyls, who treasure up these things, that
when the grasshopper on the top of the Exchange shook hands
with the dragon on the top of Bow Church Steeple, fearful
events would take place. This strange conjunction, it seems, has
as strangely come to pass. The same architect has been engaged
lately on the repairs of the cupola of the Exchange, and the
steeple of Bow church; and, fearful to relate, the dragon and
the grasshopper actually lie, cheek by jole, in the yard of his
workshop.
"Others," as Mr. Skryme is accustomed to say, "may go star-
gazing, and look for conjunctions in the heavens, but here is a
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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 Soul of a Bishop by H. G. Wells: manifest by the minuteness of the large automobiles that were
driving away in the foreground after "setting down." "Here is the
plan," she said, thrusting another sheet upon him before he could
fully take in the quality of the design. "The g'eat Hall is to be
pe'fectly 'ound, no aisle, no altar, and in lettas of sapphiah,
'God is ev'ywhe'.'"
She added with a note of solemnity, "It will hold th'ee
thousand people sitting down."
"But--!" said Scrope.
"The'e's a sort of g'andeur," she said. "It's young Venable's
wo'k. It's his fl'st g'ate oppo'tunity."
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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 Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: 'Navigation Act,' which has made the English enemies of all the world,
and infused into them a ferocious pride and self-conceit, which is
their mainstay. But, in spite of their Malta citadel, if France and
Russia will only comprehend the part the Mediterranean and the Black
Sea ought to be made to play in the future, the road to Asia through
Egypt or by the Euphrates, made feasible by recent discoveries, will
kill England, as in former times the discovery of the Cape of Good
Hope killed Venice."
"Not one word of God's providence in all this!" cried the rector.
"Monsieur Clousier and Monsieur Roubaud are oblivious of religion. How
is it with you, monsieur?" he added, turning to Gerard.
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