| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson by Robert Louis Stevenson: lost; the periwig feeling.
Letter: TO THOMAS STEVENSON
[SKERRYVORE, BOURNEMOUTH, March 1886.]
MY DEAR FATHER, - The David problem has to-day been decided. I am
to leave the door open for a sequel if the public take to it, and
this will save me from butchering a lot of good material to no
purpose. Your letter from Carlisle was pretty like yourself, sir,
as I was pleased to see; the hand of Jekyll, not the hand of Hyde.
I am for action quite unfit, and even a letter is beyond me; so
pray take these scraps at a vast deal more than their intrinsic
worth. I am in great spirits about David, Colvin agreeing with
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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 Lone Star Ranger by Zane Grey: extended in almost to the outskirts of the village, and he had
to retrace his steps and go round to the right. Wire fences and
horses in pasture made this a task, so it was well after
midnight before he accomplished it. He made ten miles or more
then by daylight, and after that proceeded cautiously along a
road which appeared to be well worn from travel. He passed
several thickets where he would have halted to hide during the
day but for the fact that he had to find water.
He was a long while in coming to it, and then there was no
thicket or clump of mesquite near the waterhole that would
afford him covert. So he kept on.
The Lone Star Ranger |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from American Notes by Rudyard Kipling: self-asserting in conversation. Also the women were very fair.
Perhaps eighteen days aboard ship had something to do with my
unreserved admiration. The maidens were of generous build,
large, well groomed, and attired in raiment that even to my
inexperienced eyes must have cost much. Cairn Street at nine
o'clock levels all distinctions of rank as impartially as the
grave. Again and again I loitered at the heels of a couple of
resplendent beings, only to overhear, when I expected the level
voice of culture, the staccato "Sez he," "Sez I" that is the mark
of the white servant-girl all the world over.
This was depressing because, in spite of all that goes to the
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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 Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson: Matcham was well rested and revived; and the two lads, winged by
what Dick had seen, hurried through the remainder of the outwood,
crossed the road in safety, and began to mount into the high ground
of Tunstall Forest. The trees grew more and more in groves, with
heathy places in between, sandy, gorsy, and dotted with old yews.
The ground became more and more uneven, full of pits and hillocks.
And with every step of the ascent the wind still blew the shriller,
and the trees bent before the gusts like fishing-rods.
They had just entered one of the clearings, when Dick suddenly
clapped down upon his face among the brambles, and began to crawl
slowly backward towards the shelter of the grove. Matcham, in
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