| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Marie by H. Rider Haggard: would speak with you about the Boers."
So Halstead went, shrugging his shoulders and muttering as he passed me:
"I hope you really _can_ shoot."
After he had left I sat alone for a full hour with Dingaan while he
cross-examined me about the Dutch, their movements and their aims in
travelling to the confines of his country.
I answered his questions as best I could, trying to make out a good case
for them.
At length, when he grew weary of talking, he clapped his hands, whereon
a number of fine girls appeared, two of whom carried pots of beer, from
which he offered me drink.
Marie |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lucile by Owen Meredith: And observing, with no small amount of surprise,
Resignation and calm in the old sinner's eyes)
Ask'd if he had nothing that weigh'd on his mind:
"Well, . . . no," . . . says Lothario, "I think not. I find,
On reviewing my life, which in most things was pleasant,
I never neglected, when once it was present,
An occasion of pleasing myself. On the whole,
I have naught to regret;" . . . and so, smiling, his soul
Took its flight from this world.
ALFRED.
Well, Regret or Remorse,
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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 Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: 'Here,' he said, 'into the parlour?'
'Where else?' she asked.
He looked vexed, and suggested the kitchen as a more suitable place
for him. Mrs. Linton eyed him with a droll expression - half
angry, half laughing at his fastidiousness.
'No,' she added, after a while; 'I cannot sit in the kitchen. Set
two tables here, Ellen: one for your master and Miss Isabella,
being gentry; the other for Heathcliff and myself, being of the
lower orders. Will that please you, dear? Or must I have a fire
lighted elsewhere? If so, give directions. I'll run down and
secure my guest. I'm afraid the joy is too great to be real!'
Wuthering Heights |
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 An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde: complex thing, and politics is a very complex business. There are
wheels within wheels. One may be under certain obligations to people
that one must pay. Sooner or later in political life one has to
compromise. Every one does.
LADY CHILTERN. Compromise? Robert, why do you talk so differently
to-night from the way I have always heard you talk? Why are you
changed?
SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. I am not changed. But circumstances alter
things.
LADY CHILTERN. Circumstances should never alter principles!
SIR ROBERT CHILTERN. But if I told you -
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