| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne: is not intended for us."
"Ah!" cried Maston, in a tone which could not be mistaken, "I would
rather have twenty balls in my own head than one in Barbicane's."
"Forward, then," said Ardan, pressing his companion's hand.
A few moments later the two friends had disappeared in the copse.
It was a dense thicket, in which rose huge cypresses, sycamores,
tulip-trees, olives, tamarinds, oaks, and magnolias.
These different trees had interwoven their branches into an
inextricable maze, through which the eye could not penetrate.
Michel Ardan and Maston walked side by side in silence through
the tall grass, cutting themselves a path through the strong
From the Earth to the Moon |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from 'Twixt Land & Sea by Joseph Conrad: profound, echoless irresponsiveness to everything around him,
should wish to write, or find anything to write about to anybody,
was in itself a cause for no small wonder. And to me, of all
people! I waited with uneasy impatience for whatever disclosure
could come from that naturally benighted intelligence, but my
impatience had time to wear out before my eyes beheld old Nelson's
trembling, painfully-formed handwriting, senile and childish at the
same time, on an envelope bearing a penny stamp and the postal mark
of the Notting Hill office. I delayed opening it in order to pay
the tribute of astonishment due to the event by flinging my hands
above my head. So he had come home to England, to be definitely
'Twixt Land & Sea |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Essays of Francis Bacon by Francis Bacon: cepts. And after a time, set before thee thine own
example; and examine thyself strictly, whether
thou didst not best at first. Neglect not also the
examples, of those that have carried themselves
ill, in the same place; not to set off thyself, by tax-
ing their memory, but to direct thyself, what to
avoid. Reform therefore, without bravery, or scan-
dal of former times and persons; but yet set it down
to thyself, as well to create good precedents, as to
follow them. Reduce things to the first institution,
and observe wherein, and how, they have degen-
Essays of Francis Bacon |
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 St. Ives by Robert Louis Stevenson: Abercromby Place, I believe - at least it was a crescent of highly
respectable houses fronting on a garden - Byfield and I, having
fallen somewhat in the rear with Rowley, came to a simultaneous
halt. Our ruffians were beginning to wrench off bells and door-
plates!
'Oh, I say!' says Byfield, 'this is too much of a good thing!
Confound it, I'm a respectable man - a public character, by George!
I can't afford to get taken up by the police.'
'My own case exactly,' said I.
'Here, let's bilk them,' said he.
And we turned back and took our way down hill again.
|
