| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from End of the Tether by Joseph Conrad: ing in a growl--
"What's this I hear, Whalley? Is it true you're sell-
ing the Fair Maid?"
Captain Whalley, looking away, said the thing was
done--money had been paid that morning; and the other
expressed at once his approbation of such an extremely
sensible proceeding. He had got out of his trap to
stretch his legs, he explained, on his way home to dinner.
Sir Frederick looked well at the end of his time. Didn't
he?
Captain Whalley could not say; had only noticed the
End of the Tether |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: summer, perhaps, they might meet: meantime, he wished him to
continue writing at intervals, and engaged to give him what advice
and comfort he was able by letter; being well aware of his hard
position in his family. Linton complied; and had he been
unrestrained, would probably have spoiled all by filling his
epistles with complaints and lamentations. but his father kept a
sharp watch over him; and, of course, insisted on every line that
my master sent being shown; so, instead of penning his peculiar
personal sufferings and distresses, the themes constantly uppermost
in his thoughts, he harped on the cruel obligation of being held
asunder from his friend and love; and gently intimated that Mr.
Wuthering Heights |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Youth by Joseph Conrad: hate for that Jermyn to this day.
"We were a week working up as far as Yarmouth
Roads, and then we got into a gale--the famous October
gale of twenty-two years ago. It was wind, lightning,
sleet, snow, and a terrific sea. We were flying light, and
you may imagine how bad it was when I tell you we had
smashed bulwarks and a flooded deck. On the second
night she shifted her ballast into the lee bow, and by
that time we had been blown off somewhere on the Dogger
Bank. There was nothing for it but go below with
shovels and try to right her, and there we were in that
Youth |
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 Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin: himself dispos'd to marry, he inform'd the elders of his class,
who consulted the elder ladies that govern'd the young women.
As these elders of the different sexes were well acquainted
with the tempers and dispositions of their respective pupils,
they could best judge what matches were suitable, and their judgments
were generally acquiesc'd in; but if, for example, it should happen
that two or three young women were found to be equally proper
for the young man, the lot was then recurred to. I objected,
if the matches are not made by the mutual choice of the parties,
some of them may chance to be very unhappy. "And so they may,"
answer'd my informer, "if you let the parties chuse for themselves;"
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |
