| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Moral Emblems by Robert Louis Stevenson: And daily the horizon scan
From Hatteras or Matapan.
Be sure, before that pirate's old,
He will have made a pot of gold,
And will retire from all his labours
And be respected by his neighbours.
YOU ALSO SCAN YOUR LIFE'S HORIZON
FOR ALL THAT YOU CAN CLAP YOUR EYES ON.
A MARTIAL ELEGY FOR SOME LEAD SOLDIERS
For certain soldiers lately dead
Our reverent dirge shall here be said.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Ebb-Tide by Stevenson & Osbourne: where you and I and Huish would have been?'
'Yes, I know that,' said Herrick. 'No matter who's to blame,
I know it. And what next?'
'No matter who's to blame, you know it, right enough,' said
the captain, 'and I'm obliged to you for the reminder. Now
here's this Attwater: what do you think of him?'
'I do not know,' said Herrick. 'I am attracted and repelled.
He was insufferably rude to you.'
'And you, Huish?' said the captain.
Huish sat cleaning a favourite briar root; he scarce looked up
from that engrossing task. 'Don't ast me what I think of him!'
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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 Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson by Robert Louis Stevenson: that I am very deep in engagements, which my absurd health makes it
hard for me to overtake; but 5TH, that I will bear him in mind; 6TH
and last, that I am a brute.
My address is still the same, and I live in a most sweet corner of
the universe, sea and fine hills before me, and a rich variegated
plain; and at my back a craggy hill, loaded with vast feudal ruins.
I am very quiet; a person passing by my door half startles me; but
I enjoy the most aromatic airs, and at night the most wonderful
view into a moonlit garden. By day this garden fades into nothing,
overpowered by its surroundings and the luminous distance; but at
night and when the moon is out, that garden, the arbour, the flight
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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 Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie: distress, and speaks of having had a great shock.
"Looking at the matter psychologically, I drew one deduction
which I was convinced was correct. The second 'scandal' she
spoke of was not the same as the first--and it concerned herself!
"Let us reconstruct. At 4 o'clock, Mrs. Inglethorp quarrels with
her son, and threatens to denounce him to his wife-- who, by the
way, overheard the greater part of the conversation. At 4.30,
Mrs. Inglethorp, in consequence of a conversation on the validity
of wills, makes a will in favour of her husband, which the two
gardeners witness. At 5 o'clock, Dorcas finds her mistress in a
state of considerable agitation, with a slip of paper--'a
The Mysterious Affair at Styles |
