| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The New Machiavelli by H. G. Wells: In India, too, I no longer foresee, as once I was inclined to see,
disaster. The English rule in India is surely one of the most
extraordinary accidents that has ever happened in history. We are
there like a man who has fallen off a ladder on to the neck of an
elephant, and doesn't know what to do or how to get down. Until
something happens he remains. Our functions in India are absurd.
We English do not own that country, do not even rule it. We make
nothing happen; at the most we prevent things happening. We
suppress our own literature there. Most English people cannot even
go to this land they possess; the authorities would prevent it. If
Messrs. Perowne or Cook organised a cheap tour of Manchester
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare: I haue but foure, shee's not fourteene.
How long is it now to Lammas tide?
Wife. A fortnight and odde dayes
Nurse. Euen or odde, of all daies in the yeare come
Lammas Eue at night shall she be fourteene. Susan & she,
God rest all Christian soules, were of an age. Well Susan
is with God, she was too good for me. But as I said, on Lamas
Eue at night shall she be fourteene, that shall she marie,
I remember it well. 'Tis since the Earth-quake now
eleuen yeares, and she was wean'd I neuer shall forget it,
of all the daies of the yeare, vpon that day: for I had then
Romeo and Juliet |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson: CHAPTER VII
I GO TO SEA IN THE BRIG "COVENANT" OF DYSART
I came to myself in darkness, in great pain, bound hand and foot,
and deafened by many unfamiliar noises. There sounded in my ears
a roaring of water as of a huge mill-dam, the thrashing of heavy
sprays, the thundering of the sails, and the shrill cries of
seamen. The whole world now heaved giddily up, and now rushed
giddily downward; and so sick and hurt was I in body, and my mind
so much confounded, that it took me a long while, chasing my
thoughts up and down, and ever stunned again by a fresh stab of
pain, to realise that I must be lying somewhere bound in the
Kidnapped |
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 Marie by H. Rider Haggard: opened the question of the treaty. The king replied however, that the
white men had but just arrived, and he wished to see them dance after
their own fashion. As for the business, it might "sit still" till
another day.
So in the end the Boers "danced" for his amusement. That is, they
divided into two parties, and charged each other at full gallop, firing
their guns into the air, an exhibition which seemed to fill all present
with admiration and awe. When they paused, the king wished them to go
on firing "a hundred shots apiece," but the commandant declined, saying
he had no more powder to waste.
"What do you want powder for in a peaceful country?" asked Dingaan
Marie |
