| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Mistress Wilding by Rafael Sabatini: vessels had come over, so that it is to be supposed he brings some
manner of provision with him."
"It is to be hoped so, Vallancey; but hardly to be supposed," quoth
Trenchard, and then he touched Wilding on the arm and pointed with his
whip across the fields towards Taunton. A cloud of dust was rising
from between tall hedges where ran the road. "I think it were wise to
be moving. At least, this sudden landing of James Scott relieves my
mind in the matter of that letter."
Wilding, having taken a look at the floating dust that announced the
oncoming of their pursuers, was now lost in thought. Vallancey, who,
beyond excitement at the news of which he was the bearer, seemed to
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lay Morals by Robert Louis Stevenson: candour. That let him do in all sincerity and zeal, not
sparing a thought for contrary opinions; that, for what it is
worth, let him proclaim. Be not afraid; although he be
wrong, so also is the dead, stuffed Dagon he insults. For
the voice of God, whatever it is, is not that stammering,
inept tradition which the people holds. These truths survive
in travesty, swamped in a world of spiritual darkness and
confusion; and what a few comprehend and faithfully hold, the
many, in their dead jargon, repeat, degrade, and
misinterpret.
So far of Respectability; what the Covenanters used to call
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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 The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin: no man of the nineteenth century felt more keenly that he had a mission,
and none was more loyal to what he believed that mission to be.
While still in college, what seemed a chance incident gave
occasion and direction to this mission. A certain English reviewer
had ridiculed the work of the artist Turner. Now Ruskin held
Turner to be the greatest landscape painter the world had seen,
and he immediately wrote a notable article in his defense. Slowly
this article grew into a pamphlet, and the pamphlet into a book,
the first volume of "Modern Painters." The young man awoke to
find himself famous. In the next few years four more volumes were
added to "Modern Painters," and the other notable series upon
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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 Prufrock/Other Observations by T. S. Eliot: The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes,
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.
And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
Prufrock/Other Observations |
