| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Woman and Labour by Olive Schreiner: accomplishment of human toil, wherever the delicate adaptions of
scientifically constructed machinery are taking the place of the simple
manipulation of the human hand--there has arisen, all the world over, a
large body of males who find that their ancient fields of labour have
slipped or are slipping from them, and who discover that the modern world
has no place or need for them. At the gates of our dockyards, in our
streets, and in our fields, are to be found everywhere, in proportion as
modern civilisation is really dominant, men whose bulk and mere animal
strength would have made them as warriors invaluable members of any
primitive community, and who would have been valuable even in any simpler
civilisation than our own, as machines of toil; but who, owing to lack of
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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 Marriage Contract by Honore de Balzac: of a lover, and you think that old Mathias, who is not in love, can
forget arithmetic, and will not point out the difference between
landed estate, the actual value of which is enormous and constantly
increasing, and the revenues of personal property, the capital of
which is subject to fluctuations and diminishment of income. I am old
enough to have learned that money dwindles and land augments. You have
called me in, Monsieur le comte, to stipulate for your interests;
either let me defend those interests, or dismiss me."
"If monsieur is seeking a fortune equal in capital to his own," said
Solonet, "we certainly cannot give it to him. We do not possess three
millions and a half; nothing can be more evident. While you can boast
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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 A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift: with a little pepper or salt, will be very good boiled on the
fourth day, especially in winter.
I have reckoned upon a medium, that a child just born will weigh
12 pounds, and in a solar year, if tolerably nursed, encreaseth
to 28 pounds.
I grant this food will be somewhat dear, and therefore very
proper for landlords, who, as they have already devoured most of
the parents, seem to have the best title to the children.
Infant's flesh will be in season throughout the year, but more
plentiful in March, and a little before and after; for we are
told by a grave author, an eminent French physician, that fish
A Modest Proposal |
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 Love and Friendship by Jane Austen: in order to get some preferment in the Acting way; and such my
Dear Cousin is our History."
I thanked the amiable Youth for his entertaining narration, and
after expressing my wishes for their Welfare and Happiness, left
them in their little Habitation and returned to my other Freinds
who impatiently expected me.
My adventures are now drawing to a close my dearest Marianne;
at least for the present.
When we arrived at Edinburgh Sir Edward told me that as the
Widow of his son, he desired I would accept from his Hands of four
Hundred a year. I graciously promised that I would, but could not
Love and Friendship |
