| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Iliad by Homer: of Hades. Give me now your hand I pray you, for when you have
once given me my dues of fire, never shall I again come forth out
of the house of Hades. Nevermore shall we sit apart and take
sweet counsel among the living; the cruel fate which was my
birth-right has yawned its wide jaws around me--nay, you too
Achilles, peer of gods, are doomed to die beneath the wall of the
noble Trojans.
"One prayer more will I make you, if you will grant it; let not
my bones be laid apart from yours, Achilles, but with them; even
as we were brought up together in your own home, what time
Menoetius brought me to you as a child from Opoeis because by a
The Iliad |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tour Through Eastern Counties of England by Daniel Defoe: and all the counties round with turkeys, and that it is thought
there are more turkeys bred in this county and the part of Norfolk
that adjoins to it than in all the rest of England, especially for
sale, though this may be reckoned, as I say above, but a trifling
thing to take notice of in these remarks; yet, as I have hinted,
that I shall observe how London is in general supplied with all its
provisions from the whole body of the nation, and how every part of
the island is engaged in some degree or other of that supply. On
this account I could not omit it, nor will it be found so
inconsiderable an article as some may imagine, if this be true,
which I received an account of from a person living on the place,
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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 Cromwell by William Shakespeare: I do commend my Lordship to Raphe & to Roger,
to Bridget & to Doritie, & so to all the youth of
Putney.
GOVERNOUR.
Sure, these are the names of English Noblemen,
Some of his special friends, to whom he writes:
But stay, he doth address himself to sing.
[Here he sings a song.]
My Lord, I am glad you are so frolic and so blithe:
Believe me, noble Lord, if you knew all,
You'd change your merry vein to sudden sorrow.
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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 The Exiles by Honore de Balzac: "The clock has struck, the boat is waiting; will you not come?"
At these words, spoken in bad French, but distinctly audible in the
silence, a little noise was heard in the other top room, and the young
man came down as lightly as a bird.
When Godefroid appeared, the lady's face turned crimson; she trembled,
started, and covered her face with her white hands.
Any woman might have shared her agitation at the sight of this youth
of about twenty, of a form and stature so slender that at a first
glance he might have been taken for a mere boy, or a young girl in
disguise. His black cap--like the /beret/ worn by the Basque people--
showed a brow as white as snow, where grace and innocence shone with
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