| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Brother of Daphne by Dornford Yates: "I'm afraid you're of rather a coming-on disposition, Pomfret."
"Oh, I can do my thirty-five. His licence will show you that.
"Oh, Pomfret, did you get it endorsed?"
"It was his own fault. Kept egging me on all the time, and then,
when we were stopped, tells the police that it's a physical
impossibility for me to do more than fifteen. And I had to stand
there and hear him say it! He told me afterwards that it was
only a facon de parler, but I was angry. I simply shook with
anger, the radiator was boiling, too, and one of the tires burst
with rage."
"And I suppose the petrol pipe was choked with emotion."
The Brother of Daphne |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Protagoras by Plato: the medium, and which they carry on by turns and in an orderly manner, even
though they are very liberal in their potations. And a company like this
of ours, and men such as we profess to be, do not require the help of
another's voice, or of the poets whom you cannot interrogate about the
meaning of what they are saying; people who cite them declaring, some that
the poet has one meaning, and others that he has another, and the point
which is in dispute can never be decided. This sort of entertainment they
decline, and prefer to talk with one another, and put one another to the
proof in conversation. And these are the models which I desire that you
and I should imitate. Leaving the poets, and keeping to ourselves, let us
try the mettle of one another and make proof of the truth in conversation.
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland by Olive Schreiner: should come when, from the Zambezi to the sea, white man should fly at
white man's throat, and every man's heart burn with bitterness against his
fellow, and the land be bathed with blood as rain--shall I then dare to
pray, who have now feared to speak? Do not think I wish for punishment
upon these men. Let them take the millions they have wrung out of this
land, and go to the lands of their birth, and live in wealth, luxury, and
joy; but let them leave this land they have tortured and ruined. Let them
keep the money they have made here; we may be the poorer for it; but they
cannot then crush our freedom with it. Shall I ask my God Sunday by Sunday
to brood across the land, and bind all its children's hearts in a close-
knit fellowship;--yet, when I see its people betrayed, and their jawbone
|
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 Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: over--enough to leave space for the remainder to walk
about in some comfort; and now was the time for a heroine,
who had not yet played a very distinguished part in
the events of the evening, to be noticed and admired.
Every five minutes, by removing some of the crowd,
gave greater openings for her charms. She was now seen
by many young men who had not been near her before.
Not one, however, started with rapturous wonder on
beholding her, no whisper of eager inquiry ran round
the room, nor was she once called a divinity by anybody.
Yet Catherine was in very good looks, and had the company
Northanger Abbey |
