| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Emma by Jane Austen: "Yours ever,
"A. W."
[To Mrs. Weston.]
WINDSOR-JULY.
MY DEAR MADAM,
"If I made myself intelligible yesterday, this letter will be expected;
but expected or not, I know it will be read with candour and indulgence.--
You are all goodness, and I believe there will be need of even
all your goodness to allow for some parts of my past conduct.--
But I have been forgiven by one who had still more to resent.
My courage rises while I write. It is very difficult for the
Emma |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: colour fled at the idea of seeing the deer shot, although, had
her father expressed his wish that they should accompany Norman,
it was probable she would not even have hinted her reluctance.
The forester shrugged his shoulders. "It was a
disheartening thing," he said, "when none of the gentles came
down to see the sport. He hoped Captain Sholto would be soon
hame, or he might shut up his shop entirely; for Mr. Harry was
kept sae close wi' his Latin nonsense that, though his will was
very gude to be in the wood from morning till night, there would
be a hopeful lad lost, and no making a man of him. It was not
so, he had heard, in Lord Ravenswood's time: when a buck was to
The Bride of Lammermoor |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot: Oh is there, she said. Something o' that, I said. 150
Then I'll know who to thank, she said, and give me a straight look.
HURRY UP PLEASE IT'S TIME
If you don't like it you can get on with it, I said.
Others can pick and choose if you can't.
But if Albert makes off, it won't be for lack of telling.
You ought to be ashamed, I said, to look so antique.
(And her only thirty-one.)
I can't help it, she said, pulling a long face,
It's them pills I took, to bring it off, she said.
(She's had five already, and nearly died of young George.) 160
The Waste Land |
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 Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin: for their corn, they paw the pavement or the straw. Two of my horses
thus behave when they see or hear the corn given to their neighbours.
But here we have what may almost be called a true expression, as pawing
the ground is universally recognized as a sign of eagerness.
Cats cover up their excrements of both kinds with earth;
and my grandfather[17]{sic} saw a kitten scraping ashes over
a spoonful of pure water spilt on the hearth; so that here
an habitual or instinctive action was falsely excited, not by
a previous act or by odour, but by eyesight. It is well known
that cats dislike wetting their feet, owing, it is probable,
to their having aboriginally inhabited the dry country of Egypt;
Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals |
