| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Mother by Owen Wister: severe to Ethel when she made that threat to him during their drive.
Richard at once made his way to the easy-chair arranged each night in a
good position for the narrator of the evening, and baptised "The
Singstool" by Mr. Graves. Mr. Graves was an ardent Wagnerian, and
especially devoted to The Mastersingers of Nuremberg.
"Shall we have," he whispered to Mr. Hillard, "a Beckmesser fiasco
to-night, or will it be a Walter success?"
But Mr. Hillard, besides being an author and a critic, cared little for
the too literary cleverness of Mr. Graves. He therefore heavily crushed
that gentleman's allusion to Wagner's opera. "I remember," he said, "the
singing contest between Beckmesser and Walter, and I doubt if we are to
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from An Inland Voyage by Robert Louis Stevenson: broke forth and set all the leaves shining in the valley of the
Oise.
The river was swollen with the long rains. From Vadencourt all the
way to Origny, it ran with ever-quickening speed, taking fresh
heart at each mile, and racing as though it already smelt the sea.
The water was yellow and turbulent, swung with an angry eddy among
half-submerged willows, and made an angry clatter along stony
shores. The course kept turning and turning in a narrow and well-
timbered valley. Now the river would approach the side, and run
griding along the chalky base of the hill, and show us a few open
colza-fields among the trees. Now it would skirt the garden-walls
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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 Mistress Wilding by Rafael Sabatini:
Serviteur, madame!" And, buckling his sword-belt as he went, he swept
out, leaving the door wide open, Belmont following, Wentworth saluting
and the guards presenting arms.
"Come, sir," said the captain in a subdued voice, his eyes avoiding
Ruth's face.
"I am ready," answered Wilding firmly, and he turned to glance at his
wife.
She was bending towards him, her hands held out, such a look on her face
as almost drove him mad with despair, reading it as he did. He made a
sound deep in his throat before he found words.
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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 The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: court, give him uneasiness.
I see an express in mighty haste, with joy and wonder in his
looks, arriving by break of day on the 26th of this month, having
travell'd in three days a prodigious journey by land and sea. In
the evening I hear bells and guns, and see the blazing of a
thousand bonfires.
A young admiral of noble birth, does likewise this month gain
immortal honour by a great achievement.
The affairs of Poland are this month entirely settled: Augustus
resigns his pretensions which he had again taken up for some
time: Stanislaus is peaceably possess'd of the throne; and the
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