| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Records of a Family of Engineers by Robert Louis Stevenson: he was in time to see, in the navy-yard at Helvoetsluys,
`about twenty of Bonaparte's ENGLISH FLOTILLA lying in a state
of decay, the object of curiosity to Englishmen.' By 1834 he
seems to have been acquainted with the coast of France from
Dieppe to Bordeaux; and a main part of his duty as Engineer to
the Board of Northern Lights was one round of dangerous and
laborious travel.
In 1786, when Thomas Smith first received the
appointment, the extended and formidable coast of Scotland was
lighted at a single point - the Isle of May, in the jaws of
the Firth of Forth, where, on a tower already a hundred and
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Pericles by William Shakespeare: [Great shouts within, and all cry 'The mean knight!']
SCENE III. The same. A hall of state: a banquet prepared.
[Enter Simonides, Thaisa, Lords, Attendants, and Knights, from
tilting.]
SIMONIDES.
Knights,
To say you're welcome were superfluous.
To place upon the volume of your deeds,
As in a title-page, your worth in arms,
Were more than you expect, or more than's fit,
Since every worth in show commends itself.
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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 Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs: The lion was halfway across the clearing when I heard a
slight sound behind me. The great cat stopped in his
tracks. He lashed his tail against his sides now, instead
of simply twitching its tip, and his low moan became a
thunderous roar.
As I craned my neck to catch a glimpse of the thing that had
aroused the fury of the beast before me, it sprang through
the arched gateway and was at my side--with parted lips and
heaving bosom and disheveled hair--a bronzed and lovely
vision to eyes that had never harbored hope of rescue.
It was Victory, and in her arms she clutched my rifle and
Lost Continent |
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 Michael Strogoff by Jules Verne: of the great divisions of European Russia. It is as though
a morsel of Siberia lay in Russian jaws.
Neither Michael nor his companions were likely to ex-
perience the slightest difficulty in obtaining means of con-
tinuing their journey in so large a town as Ekaterenburg.
It was founded in 1723, and has since become a place of
considerable size, for in it is the chief mint of the empire.
There also are the headquarters of the officials employed in
the management of the mines. Thus the town is the center
of an important district, abounding in manufactories prin-
cipally for the working and refining of gold and platina.
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