| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock: to make my excuse in person for the hard necessity of my duty."
He had scarcely spoken, when the door opened, and the lady
made her appearance.
CHAPTER IV
Are you mad, or what are you, that you squeak out your catches
without mitigation or remorse of voice? Twelfth Night.
Matilda, not dreaming of visitors, tripped into the apartment
in a dress of forest green, with a small quiver by her side,
and a bow and arrow in her hand. Her hair, black and glossy as
the raven's wing, curled like wandering clusters of dark ripe grapes
under the edge of her round bonnet; and a plume of black feathers fell
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lay Morals by Robert Louis Stevenson: at a few other varieties. There is your man who is pre-
eminently conscientious, whose face beams with sincerity as
he opens on the negative, and who votes on the affirmative at
the end, looking round the room with an air of chastened
pride. There is also the irrelevant speaker, who rises,
emits a joke or two, and then sits down again, without ever
attempting to tackle the subject of debate. Again, we have
men who ride pick-a-back on their family reputation, or, if
their family have none, identify themselves with some well-
known statesman, use his opinions, and lend him their
patronage on all occasions. This is a dangerous plan, and
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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 Moran of the Lady Letty by Frank Norris: agony. At length one noon, just after Moran had taken the sun and
had calculated that the "Bertha" was some eight miles to the
southwest of San Diego, she was surprised to hear Wilbur calling
her sharply. She ran to him, and found him standing in the waist
by Charlie's hammock.
The Chinaman was dying, and knew it. He was talking in a faint
and feeble voice to Wilbur as she came up, and was trying to
explain to him that he was sorry he had deserted the schooner
during the scare in the bay.
"Planty muchee solly," he said; "China boy, him heap flaid of
Feng-shui. When Feng-shui no likee, we then must go chop-chop.
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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 Mansfield Park by Jane Austen: perhaps in the very spot where she sat now, listening with
constant delight to the favourite air, played, as it
appeared to her, with superior tone and expression;
and though pleased with it herself, and glad to like whatever
was liked by him, she was more sincerely impatient to go
away at the conclusion of it than she had been before;
and on this being evident, she was so kindly asked to
call again, to take them in her walk whenever she could,
to come and hear more of the harp, that she felt it
necessary to be done, if no objection arose at home.
Such was the origin of the sort of intimacy which took
Mansfield Park |
