| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Wrong Box by Stevenson & Osbourne: 'Ah, but I can't declare it,' said Michael.
'Why not?' cried Morris.
'I can't produce the corpus, Morris. I've lost it,' said the
lawyer.
'Stop a bit,' ejaculated the leather merchant. 'How is this? It's
not possible. I lost it.'
'Well, I've lost it too, my son,' said Michael, with extreme
serenity. 'Not recognizing it, you see, and suspecting something
irregular in its origin, I got rid of--what shall we say?--got
rid of the proceeds at once.'
'You got rid of the body? What made you do that?' walled Morris.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Ferragus by Honore de Balzac: negatively consented. When a shower fell, he stayed near the
/cochonnet/, the slave of the bowls, and the guardian of the
unfinished game. Rain affected him no more than the fine weather did;
he was, like the players themselves, an intermediary species between a
Parisian who has the lowest intellect of his kind and an animal which
has the highest.
In other respects, pallid and shrunken, indifferent to his own person,
vacant in mind, he often came bareheaded, showing his sparse white
hair, and his square, yellow, bald skull, like the knee of a beggar
seen through his tattered trousers. His mouth was half-open, no ideas
were in his glance, no precise object appeared in his movements; he
Ferragus |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Richard III by William Shakespeare: The precious image of our dear Redeemer,
You straight are on your knees for pardon, pardon;
And I, unjustly too, must grant it you. [DERBY rises]
But for my brother not a man would speak;
Nor I, ungracious, speak unto myself
For him, poor soul. The proudest of you all
Have been beholding to him in his life;
Yet none of you would once beg for his life.
O God, I fear thy justice will take hold
On me, and you, and mine, and yours, for this!
Come, Hastings, help me to my closet. Ah, poor Clarence!
Richard III |
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 Lamentable Tragedy of Locrine and Mucedorus by William Shakespeare: That manners stood unknowledged.
KING OF ARRAGON.
What we have to recite would tedious prove
By declaration; therefore, in, and feast:
To morrow the performance shall explain,
What Words conceal; till then, Drums speak,
Bells ring,
Give plausive welcomes to our brother King.
[Sound Drums and Trumpets. Exeunt omnes.]
EPILOGUE.
[Enter Comedy and Envy.]
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