| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Manon Lescaut by Abbe Prevost: be thrown. I had the utmost terror of this place. My misery was
increased by the guards on my entrance, examining once more my
pockets, to ascertain whether I had about me any arms or weapons
of defence.
"The governor appeared. He had been informed of my
apprehension. He saluted me with great mildness. `Do not, my
good sir,' said I to him, `allow me to be treated with indignity.
I would suffer a hundred deaths rather than quietly submit to
degrading treatment.' `No, no,' he replied, `you will act
quietly and prudently, and we shall be mutually content with each
other.' He begged of me to ascend to one of the highest rooms; I
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Cromwell by William Shakespeare: upon us; he'll fulfill the old Proverb: Set beggars a
horse-back, and they'll ride.--A, welliday for my Cow!
such as he hath made us come behind hand: we had
never pawned our Cow else to pay our rent.
SEELY.
Well, Joan, he'll come this way: and by God's dickers,
I'll tell him roundly of it, and if he were ten Lords: a
shall know that I had not my Cheese and my Bacon for
nothing.
WIFE.
Do you remember, husband, how he would mooch up
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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 Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake: And I passed the sweet flower o'er.
Then I went to my pretty rose tree,
To tend her by day and by night;
But my rose turned away with jealousy,
And her thorns were my only delight.
AH, SUNFLOWER
Ah, sunflower, weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the sun;
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveller's journey is done;
Where the Youth pined away with desire,
Songs of Innocence and Experience |
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 Edingburgh Picturesque Notes by Robert Louis Stevenson: of it well grown, but apt to be of a bushy, northern
profile and poor in foliage; by here and there a little
river, Esk or Leith or Almond, busily journeying in the
bottom of its glen; and from almost every point, by a
peep of the sea or the hills. There is no lack of
variety, and yet most of the elements are common to all
parts; and the southern district is alone distinguished
by considerable summits and a wide view.
From Boroughmuirhead, where the Scottish army
encamped before Flodden, the road descends a long hill,
at the bottom of which and just as it is preparing to
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