| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Emma by Jane Austen: making children of three or four years old stand still you know;
nor can it be very easy to take any likeness of them, beyond the
air and complexion, unless they are coarser featured than any
of mama's children ever were. Here is my sketch of the fourth,
who was a baby. I took him as he was sleeping on the sofa, and it
is as strong a likeness of his cockade as you would wish to see.
He had nestled down his head most conveniently. That's very like.
I am rather proud of little George. The corner of the sofa is very good.
Then here is my last,"--unclosing a pretty sketch of a gentleman
in small size, whole-length-- "my last and my best--my brother,
Mr. John Knightley. --This did not want much of being finished, when I
Emma |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne: For once Ardan had no reply to make, he and Maston resuming
their walk in silence. From time to time, indeed, they raised
great shouts, calling alternately Barbicane and Nicholl, neither
of whom, however, answered their cries. Only the birds,
awakened by the sound, flew past them and disappeared among the
branches, while some frightened deer fled precipitately before them.
For another hour their search was continued. The greater part
of the wood had been explored. There was nothing to reveal the
presence of the combatants. The information of the bushman was
after all doubtful, and Ardan was about to propose their
abandoning this useless pursuit, when all at once Maston stopped.
From the Earth to the Moon |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Research Magnificent by H. G. Wells: to stop a clock that is striking unwarrantably and amazingly. He
was going to stop it because it annoyed his sense of human dignity.
White hesitated for a moment and then followed, crying "Benham!"
But there was no arresting this last outbreak of Benham's all too
impatient kingship. He pushed aside a ducking German waiter who was
peeping through the glass doors, and rushed out of the hotel. With
a gesture of authority he ran forward into the middle of the street,
holding up his hand, in which he still held his dinner napkin
clenched like a bomb. White believes firmly that Benham thought he
would be able to dominate everytt up. I will sit here a moment and
pull myself together. Perhaps I'm--I must be shot. But it seemed
|
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 Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin: Judging from analogy, the primary purpose probably was to make the body
appear as large and frightful as possible to an enemy; but another,
and perhaps more important secondary advantage is thus gained.
When frogs are seized by snakes, which are their chief enemies,
they enlarge themselves wonderfully; so that if the snake be of
small size, as Dr. Gunther informs me, it cannot swallow the frog,
which thus escapes being devoured.
[21] `Dictionary of English Etymology,' p. 403.
Chameleons and some other lizards inflate themselves when angry.
Thus a species inhabiting Oregon, the _Tapaya Douglasii_, is slow
in its movements and does not bite, but has a ferocious aspect;
Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals |
