| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from New Arabian Nights by Robert Louis Stevenson: with insulting remarks; and Silas, covered with shame and terror,
implored the servants to conduct him to some quiet and comfortable
house of entertainment in the immediate neighbourhood.
The Prince's equipage deposited Silas at the Craven Hotel in Craven
Street, and immediately drove away, leaving him alone with the
servants of the inn. The only vacant room, it appeared, was a
little den up four pairs of stairs, and looking towards the back.
To this hermitage, with infinite trouble and complaint, a pair of
stout porters carried the Saratoga trunk. It is needless to
mention that Silas kept closely at their heels throughout the
ascent, and had his heart in his mouth at every corner. A single
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Mistress Wilding by Rafael Sabatini: since Battiscomb's arrival.
"Like Sir Francis Rolles, he is in prison," the lawyer explained.
Monmouth leaned forward, and his young face looked Careworn now; he
thrust a slender hand under the brown curls upon his brow. "Will you
tell us, Mr. Battiscomb, upon what friends you think that we may count?"
he said.
Battiscomb pursed his lips a second, pondering. "I think," said he,
"that you may count upon Mr. Legge and Mr. Hooper, and possibly upon
Colonel Churchill, though I cannot say what following they will bring,
if any. Mr. Trenchard, upon whom we counted for fifteen hundred men of
Taunton, has been obliged to fly the country to escape arrest."
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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 Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells: the beach as I judged, and lay down in the shelter of a canebrake.
There I remained for a long time, too fearful to move, and indeed
too fearful even to plan a course of action. The wild scene about me
lay sleeping silently under the sun, and the only sound near me was
the thin hum of some small gnats that had discovered me. Presently I
became aware of a drowsy breathing sound, the soughing of the sea upon
the beach.
After about an hour I heard Montgomery shouting my name,
far away to the north. That set me thinking of my plan of action.
As I interpreted it then, this island was inhabited only by these two
vivisectors and their animalised victims. Some of these no doubt
The Island of Doctor Moreau |
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 Sportsman by Xenophon: mountains suited to the breeding of large game.
[1] Of these places, Mt. Pangaeus (mod. Pirnari) (see "Hell." V. ii.
17), Cittus (s. Cissus, mod. Khortiatzi), N. W. of the Chalcidice,
Mysian Olympus, and Pindus are well known. Nysa has not been
verified hitherto, I think. Sturz cf. Bochart, "Hieroz." Part I.
lib. iii. c. 1, p. 722. Strabo, 637 (xv. 1. 7), mentions a Mount
Nysa in India sacred to Dionysus, and cites Soph. "Frag." 782--
{othen kateidon ton bebakkhiomenen
brotoisi kleinon Nusan . . . k.t.l.},
but it is a far cry from Xenophon's Syria to India. Possibly it is
to be sought for in the region of Mt. Amanus.
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