| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Legend of Montrose by Walter Scott: "Thou hast it!" said the Son of the Mist, looking after him with
an air of exultation; "the barbed arrow is in thy side! Spirits
of the slaughtered, rejoice! soon shall your murderers' swords
be dyed in each other's blood."
On the succeeding morning all was prepared, and Montrose advanced
by rapid marches up the river Tay, and poured his desultory
forces into the romantic vale around the lake of the same name,
which lies at the head of that river. The inhabitants were
Campbells, not indeed the vassals of Argyle, but of the allied
and kindred house of Glenorchy, which now bears the name of
Breadalbane. Being taken by surprise, they were totally
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Vendetta by Honore de Balzac: Madame Servin appeared not to notice it; her feigned ignorance was so
obvious that Ginevra recognized it at once for wilful deafness.
Presently the unknown man turned on his pallet.
The Italian then looked fixedly at Madame Servin, who said, without
the slightest change of face:--
"Your copy is as fine as the original; if I had to choose between the
two I should be puzzled."
"Monsieur Servin has not taken his wife into his confidence as to this
mystery," thought Ginevra, who, after replying to the young wife's
speech with a gentle smile of incredulity, began to hum a Corsican
"canzonetta" to cover the noise that was made by the prisoner.
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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 War and the Future by H. G. Wells: hygiene for example, take /this/ movement. We are feeling
our way towards a bigger rule."
"The rule of Righteousness," said Mr. Lubin.
I told him that I had been coming more and more to the idea--not
as a sentimentality or a metaphor, but as the ruling and
directing idea, the structural idea, of all one's political and
social activities--of the whole world as one state and community
and of God as the King of that state.
"But /I/ say that," cried Mr. Lubin, "I have put my name to that. And--it is /here!/"
He struggled up, seized an Old Testament that lay upon a side
table. He stood over it and rapped its cover. "It is
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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 Life in the Iron-Mills by Rebecca Davis: She watched him eat with a painful eagerness. With a woman's
quick instinct, she saw that he was not hungry,--was eating to
please her. Her pale, watery eyes began to gather a strange
light.
"Is't good, Hugh? T' ale was a bit sour, I feared."
"No, good enough." He hesitated a moment. "Ye're tired, poor
lass! Bide here till I go. Lay down there on that heap of ash,
and go to sleep."
He threw her an old coat for a pillow, and turned to his work.
The heap was the refuse of the burnt iron, and was not a hard
bed; the half-smothered warmth, too, penetrated her limbs,
Life in the Iron-Mills |
