| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mountains by Stewart Edward White: Out from beneath us crept the plain, sluggish and
inert with heat.
Threads of trails, dull white patches of alkali, vague
brown areas of brush, showed indeterminate for a little
distance. But only for a little distance. Almost
at once they grew dim, faded in the thickness of
atmosphere, lost themselves in the mantle of heat that lay
palpable and brown like a shimmering changing veil,
hiding the distance in mystery and in dread. It was
a land apart; a land to be looked on curiously from
the vantage-ground of safety,--as we were looking
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Kenilworth by Walter Scott: "I think," proceeded Tressilian, after a minute's silence, "thou
wert in those days a jovial fellow, who could keep a company
merry by song, and tale, and rebeck, as well as by thy juggling
tricks--why do I find thee a laborious handicraftsman, plying thy
trade in so melancholy a dwelling and under such extraordinary
circumstances?"
"My story is not long," said the artist, "but your honour had
better sit while you listen to it." So saying, he approached to
the fire a three-footed stool, and took another himself; while
Dickie Sludge, or Flibbertigibbet, as he called the boy, drew a
cricket to the smith's feet, and looked up in his face with
Kenilworth |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tour Through Eastern Counties of England by Daniel Defoe: bay trade, of which I have spoken at large at Colchester, and which
flourishes still among them.
The manor of Braintree I found descended by purchase to the name of
Olmeus, the son of a London merchant of the same name, making good
what I had observed before, of the great number of such who have
purchased estates in this county.
Near this town is Felsted, a small place, but noted for a free
school of an ancient foundation, for many years under the
mastership of the late Rev. Mr. Lydiat, and brought by him to the
meridian of its reputation. It is now supplied, and that very
worthily, by the Rev. Mr. Hutchins.
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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 Democracy In America, Volume 1 by Alexis de Toqueville: divisions may vary according to the condition of society, but the
divisions themselves can never be obliterated.
It is evident that each of these classes will exercise an
influence peculiar to its own propensities upon the
administration of the finances of the State. If the first of the
three exclusively possesses the legislative power, it is probable
that it will not be sparing of the public funds, because the
taxes which are levied on a large fortune only tend to diminish
the sum of superfluous enjoyment, and are, in point of fact, but
little felt. If the second class has the power of making the
laws, it will certainly not be lavish of taxes, because nothing
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