| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Pupil by Henry James: what could he do with Morgan's dreadful little life? Of course at
the same time that Pemberton was irritated he remembered the
reason, which was very honourable to Morgan and which dwelt simply
in his making one so forget that he was no more than a patched
urchin. If one dealt with him on a different basis one's
misadventures were one's own fault. So Pemberton waited in a queer
confusion of yearning and alarm for the catastrophe which was held
to hang over the house of Moreen, of which he certainly at moments
felt the symptoms brush his cheek and as to which he wondered much
in what form it would find its liveliest effect.
Perhaps it would take the form of sudden dispersal - a frightened
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Agesilaus by Xenophon: quality of piety.
[1] See "Hell." III. iv. 10; Plut. "Ages." xi. (Clough, iv. 9).
[2] See "Hell." IV. i. 3; Plut. "Ages." xi. (Clough, iv. 13).
[3] Diod. xvi. 34.
[4] See "Hell." IV. i. 37.
IV
To speak next of his justice[1] in affairs of money. As to this, what
testimony can be more conclusive than the following? During the whole
of his career no charge of fraudulent dealing was ever lodged against
Agesilaus; against which set the many-voiced acknowledgmment of
countless benefits received from him. A man who found pleasure 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 Vendetta by Honore de Balzac: herself up, it is true, to happy thoughts, and yet, at times, remorse
seemed to dull her eyes. It was not difficult to believe that she
could never enjoy, peacefully, any happiness which caused sorrow to
her parents.
With Bartolomeo, as with his daughter, the hesitations of this period
caused by the native goodness of their souls were, nevertheless,
compelled to give way before their pride and the rancor of their
Corsican nature. They encouraged each other in their anger, and closed
their eyes to the future. Perhaps they mutually flattered themselves
that the one would yield to the other.
At last, on Ginevra's birthday, her mother, in despair at the
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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 Lady Susan by Jane Austen: conceal. Frederica makes me very unhappy! Her applying to Mr. De Courcy
hurt me particularly." "What is it you mean to infer," said I, " by this
appearance of mystery? If you think your daughter at all attached to
Reginald, her objecting to Sir James could not less deserve to be attended
to than if the cause of her objecting had been a consciousness of his folly
; and why should your ladyship, at any rate, quarrel with my brother for an
interference which, you must know, it is not in his nature to refuse when
urged in such a manner?"
"His disposition, you know, is warm, and he came to expostulate with me;
his compassion all alive for this ill-used girl, this heroine in distress!
We misunderstood each other: he believed me more to blame than I really
Lady Susan |
