| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Personal Record by Joseph Conrad: least, but I did not like to tell him to go away. He was a young
fellow, certainly more than ten years younger than myself; I had
not been--I won't say in that place, but within sixty miles of
it, ever since the year '67; yet his guileless physiognomy of the
open peasant type seemed strangely familiar. It was quite
possible that he might have been a descendant, a son, or even a
grandson, of the servants whose friendly faces had been familiar
to me in my early childhood. As a matter of fact he had no such
claim on my consideration. He was the product of some village
near by and was there on his promotion, having learned the
service in one or two houses as pantry boy. I know this because
A Personal Record |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin: It is performed, as it was by his father, with his right hand.
"One of his children, a girl, has inherited the same trick.
She performs it, likewise, with the right hand, but in a slightly
modified form; for, after raising the arm, she does not allow the wrist
to drop upon the bridge of the nose, but the palm of the half-closed
hand falls over and down the nose, striking it rather rapidly.
It is also very intermittent with this child, not occurring for
periods of some months, but sometimes occurring almost incessantly."
{end of long footnote}
Another curious instance of an odd inherited movement,
associated with the wish to obtain an object, will be given
Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock: ears among them, from which Robin merely proposes to thresh
the grain when he directs them to be bound and beaten:
and as Pharaoh's fat kine were typical of fat ears of wheat,
so may fat ears of wheat, mutatis mutandis, be typical of fat kine.
"The articles of Hospitality are two:
"I. Postmen, carriers and market-folk, peasants and mechanics,
farmers and millers, shall pass through our forest dominions
without let or molestation.
"II. All other travellers through the forest shall be graciously invited
to partake of Robin's hospitality; and if they come not willingly they
shall be compelled; and the rich man shall pay well for his fare;
|
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 End of the Tether by Joseph Conrad: What do you mean by abusing people in that way?--
you old useless boozer, you!"
"Can't help it. Don't remember anything about it.
You shouldn't listen."
"You dare to tell me! What do you mean by going
on a drunk like this!"
"Don't ask me. Sick of the dam' boilers--you would
be. Sick of life."
"I wish you were dead, then. You've made me sick
of you. Don't you remember the uproar you made last
night? You miserable old soaker!"
End of the Tether |
