| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from In the Cage by Henry James: view. He couldn't understand people's hating what they liked or
liking what they hated; above all it hurt him somewhere--for he had
his private delicacies--to see anything BUT money made out of his
betters. To be too enquiring, or in any other way too free, at the
expense of the gentry was vaguely wrong; the only thing that was
distinctly right was to be prosperous at any price. Wasn't it just
because they were up there aloft that they were lucrative? He
concluded at any rate by saying to his young friend: "If it's
improper for you to remain at Cocker's, then that falls in exactly
with the other reasons I've put before you for your removal."
"Improper?"--her smile became a prolonged boldness. "My dear boy,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Battle of the Books by Jonathan Swift: or dissolves; so, we may say, a restless spirit haunts over every
book, till dust or worms have seized upon it - which to some may
happen in a few days, but to others later - and therefore, books of
controversy being, of all others, haunted by the most disorderly
spirits, have always been confined in a separate lodge from the
rest, and for fear of a mutual violence against each other, it was
thought prudent by our ancestors to bind them to the peace with
strong iron chains. Of which invention the original occasion was
this: When the works of Scotus first came out, they were carried
to a certain library, and had lodgings appointed them; but this
author was no sooner settled than he went to visit his master
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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 Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: man to observe the restraint of persons who live in the world
perpetually; but as his eccentricities of thought bore the mark of
originality, no one felt inclined to complain. This zest, this
piquancy, rare in mere talent, this youthfulness and simplicity of
soul which made d'Arthez so nobly original, gave a delightful charm to
this evening. He left the house with Rastignac, who, as they drove
home, asked him how he liked the princess.
"Michel did well to love her," replied d'Arthez; "she is, indeed, an
extraordinary woman."
"Very extraordinary," replied Rastignac, dryly. "By the tone of your
voice I should judge you were in love with her already. You will be in
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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 First Men In The Moon by H. G. Wells: affair, and this is a case for a practical man. I'm a practical man, and
you are not. I'm not going to trust to Selenites and geometrical diagrams
if I can help it. That's all. Get back. Drop all this secrecy - or most
of it. And come again."
He reflected. "When I came to the moon," he said, "I ought to have come
alone."
"The question before the meeting," I said, "is how to get back to the
sphere."
For a time we nursed our knees in silence. Then he seemed to decide for my
reasons.
"I think," he said, "one can get data. It is clear that while the sun is
The First Men In The Moon |
