| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Shadow Line by Joseph Conrad: always ready to relieve any man who wished to
take a spell ashore for a time. No owner was ever
known to object to an arrangement of that sort.
For it seemed to be the established opinion at the
port that Captain Giles was as good as the best, if
not a little better. But in Hamilton's view he was
an "outsider." I believe that for Hamilton the
generalisation "outsider" covered the whole lot of
us; though I suppose that he made some dis-
tinctions in his mind.
I didn't try to make conversation with Captain
The Shadow Line |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: antiquity, under the name of the Annus Mirabilis, or the
metamorphostical conjunction: a word which denotes the mutual
transformation of sexes, (the effect of that configuration of the
celestial bodies) the human males being turn'd into females, and
the human females into males.
The Egyptians have represented this great transformation by
several significant hieroglyphicks, particularly one very
remarkable. There are carv'd upon an obelisk, a barber and a
midwife; the barber delivers his razor to the midwife, and she
her swadling-cloaths to the barber. Accordingly Thales Milesius
(who like the rest of his countrymen, borrow'd his learning from
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Adam Bede by George Eliot: I'll go, Mr. Massey--I'll go with you."
There was a decision in Adam's manner which would have prevented
Bartle from opposing him, even if he had wished to do so. He only
said, "Take a bit, then, and another sup, Adam, for the love of
me. See, I must stop and eat a morsel. Now, you take some."
Nerved by an active resolution, Adam took a morsel of bread and
drank some wine. He was haggard and unshaven, as he had been
yesterday, but he stood upright again, and looked more like the
Adam Bede of former days.
Chapter XLIII
The Verdict
Adam Bede |
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 Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: side. The Italian and Tito talked with such extreme rapidity, and in a
dialect unfamiliar to a man who hardly knew even the Italian of books,
that Rodolphe could neither hear nor guess the drift of this
conversation. But Tito's handsome face, Francesca's familiarity, and
Gina's expression of delight, all aggrieved him. And indeed no lover
can help being ill pleased at finding himself neglected for another,
whoever he may be. Tito tossed a little leather bag to Gina, full of
gold no doubt, and a packet of letters to Francesca, who began to read
them, with a farewell wave of the hand to Tito.
"Get quickly back to Gersau," she said to the boatmen, "I will not let
my poor Emilio pine ten minutes longer than he need."
Albert Savarus |
