| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Middlemarch by George Eliot: be allotted, there was the more need for scrupulous watching lest
the office should be perverted into a mere question of salary.
Mr. Thesiger's manner had so much quiet propriety that objectors
could only simmer in silence.
Mr. Brooke believed that everybody meant well in the matter.
He had not himself attended to the affairs of the Infirmary, though he
had a strong interest in whatever was for the benefit of Middlemarch,
and was most happy to meet the gentlemen present on any public question--
"any public question, you know," Mr. Brooke repeated, with his nod
of perfect understanding. "I am a good deal occupied as a magistrate,
and in the collection of documentary evidence, but I regard my time
Middlemarch |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from To-morrow by Joseph Conrad: told a lie to a woman. What lie? Why, THE lie--.
Take me or leave me, I say: and if you take me,
then it is . . ." He hummed a snatch very low,
leaning against the wall.
Oh, ho, ho Rio!
And fare thee well,
My bonnie young girl,
We're bound to Rio Grande
"Capstan song," he explained. Her teeth chat-
tered.
"You are cold," he said. "Here's that affair
To-morrow |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy: a masterly manner.'
''Twas very good of the worthy Mayor in the chair I'm sure,' said
Stephen's mother. 'I hope the boy will have the sense to keep
what he's got; but as for men, they are a simple sex. Some woman
will hook him.'
'Well, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the evening closes in, and we must be
going; and remember this, that every Saturday when you come in to
market, you are to make our house as your own. There will be
always a tea-cup and saucer for you, as you know there has been
for months, though you may have forgotten it. I'm a plain-
speaking woman, and what I say I mean.'
A Pair of Blue Eyes |
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 Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: blinding light of Alpine winters, a man takes a certain troubled
delight in his existence which can nowhere else be paralleled. He is
perhaps no happier, but he is stingingly alive. It does not,
perhaps, come out of him in work or exercise, yet he feels an
enthusiasm of the blood unknown in more temperate climates. It may
not be health, but it is fun.
There is nothing more difficult to communicate on paper than this
baseless ardour, this stimulation of the brain, this sterile
joyousness of spirits. You wake every morning, see the gold upon the
snow-peaks, become filled with courage, and bless God for your
prolonged existence. The valleys are but a stride to you; you cast
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