| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Passionate Pilgrim by William Shakespeare: Thy grace being gain'd cures all disgrace in me.
My vow was breath, and breath a vapour is;
Then, thou fair sun, that on this earth doth shine,
Exhale this vapour vow; in thee it is:
If broken, then it is no fault of mine.
If by me broke, what fool is not so wise
To break an oath, to win a paradise?
IV.
Sweet Cytherea, sitting by a brook
With young Adonis, lovely, fresh, and green,
Did court the lad with many a lovely look,
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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 Red Seal by Natalie Sumner Lincoln: cautiously. "As I picked him up I heard him stammer faintly:
'B-b-b.'"
Kent started so violently that the man next to him turned and
regarded him for a moment, then, more interested in what was
transpiring on the platform, promptly forgot his agitated neighbor.
"Was Turnbull delirious, doctor?" asked the coroner.
Stone shook his head in denial. "No," he stated. "I take it that
he started to say 'Barbara,' and his breath failed him; at any rate
I only caught the stuttered 'B-b-b.'"
Penfield did not immediately continue his examination, but when he
did so his manner was stern.
The Red Seal |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Mansfield Park by Jane Austen: the dreadful crime committed by her brother and my sister
(with whom lay the greater seduction I pretended not to say),
but the manner in which she spoke of the crime itself,
giving it every reproach but the right; considering its ill
consequences only as they were to be braved or overborne
by a defiance of decency and impudence in wrong; and last
of all, and above all, recommending to us a compliance,
a compromise, an acquiescence in the continuance of the sin,
on the chance of a marriage which, thinking as I now thought
of her brother, should rather be prevented than sought;
all this together most grievously convinced me that I had
Mansfield Park |
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 Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle: Then young Partington said, "If I err not, thou art the famous
Robin Hood, and these thy stout band of outlawed yeomen.
To thee I bring greetings from our noble Queen Eleanor. Oft hath
she heard thee spoken of and thy merry doings hereabouts,
and fain would she behold thy face; therefore she bids me
tell thee that if thou wilt presently come to London Town,
she will do all in her power to guard thee against harm,
and will send thee back safe to Sherwood Forest again.
Four days hence, in Finsbury Fields, our good King Henry,
of great renown, holdeth a grand shooting match, and all
the most famous archers of merry England will be thereat.
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood |
