| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde: autumn, when we were there.
LADY MARKBY. Well, like all stout women, she looks the very picture
of happiness, as no doubt you noticed. But there are many tragedies
in her family, besides this affair of the curate. Her own sister,
Mrs. Jekyll, had a most unhappy life; through no fault of her own, I
am sorry to say. She ultimately was so broken-hearted that she went
into a convent, or on to the operatic stage, I forget which. No; I
think it was decorative art-needlework she took up. I know she had
lost all sense of pleasure in life. [Rising.] And now, Gertrude, if
you will allow me, I shall leave Mrs. Cheveley in your charge and
call back for her in a quarter of an hour. Or perhaps, dear Mrs.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Father Sergius by Leo Tolstoy: 'Ivan Nikolaevich!' she said aloud.
'What are your commands?'
'How old is he?'
'Who?'
'Kasatsky.'
'Over forty, I should think.'
'And does he receive all visitors?'
'Yes, everybody, but not always.'
'Cover up my feet. Not like that--how clumsy you are! No! More,
more--like that! But you need not squeeze them!'
So they came to the forest where the cell was.
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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 The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: the sward and trees. The grass was as close-cropped and
carpet-like as some old English lawn and the trees themselves
showed evidence of careful pruning to a uniform height of
about fifteen feet from the ground, so that as one turned his
glance in any direction the forest had the appearance at a
little distance of a vast, high-ceiled chamber.
All these evidences of careful and systematic cultivation
convinced me that I had been fortunate enough to make my
entry into Mars on this second occasion through the domain
of a civilized people and that when I should find them I
would be accorded the courtesy and protection that my rank
The Gods of Mars |
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 Plutarch's Lives by A. H. Clough: greyheaded, after a consulship and triumph; like some famous victor
in the games, persevering in his exercise and maintaining his
character to the very last. He himself says, that he never wore a
suit of clothes which cost more than a hundred drachmas; and that,
when he was general and consul, he drank the same wine which his
workmen did; and that the meat or fish which was bought in the market
for his dinner, did not cost above thirty asses. All which was for
the sake of the commonwealth, that so his body might be the hardier
for the war. Having a piece of embroidered Babylonian tapestry left
him, he sold it; because none of his farm-houses were so much as
plastered. Nor did he ever buy a slave for above fifteen hundred
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