| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Moran of the Lady Letty by Frank Norris: hare in a blind burrow was the figure of a young boy. So firmly
was he wedged into the corner that Kitchell had to kick down the
box before he could be reached. The boy spoke no word. Stupefied
with the gas, he watched them with vacant eyes.
Wilbur put a hand under the lad's arm and got him to his feet. He
was a tall, well-made fellow, with ruddy complexion and milk-blue
eyes, and was dressed, as if for heavy weather, in oilskins.
"Well, sonny, you've had a fine mess aboard here," said Kitchell.
The boy--he might have been two and twenty--stared and frowned.
"Clean loco from the gas. Get him into the dory, son. I'll try
this bloody cabin again."
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Z. Marcas by Honore de Balzac: youth. In France the young are condemned by the new legislation, by
the blundering principles of elective rights, by the unsoundness of
the ministerial constitution.
"Look at the elective Chamber; you will find no deputies of thirty;
the youth of Richelieu and of Mazarin, of Turenne and of Colbert, of
Pitt and of Saint-Just, of Napoleon and of Prince Metternich, would
find no admission there; Burke, Sheridan, or Fox could not win seats.
Even if political majority had been fixed at one-and-twenty, and
eligibility had been relieved of every disabling qualification, the
Departments would have returned the very same members, men devoid of
political talent, unable to speak without murdering French grammar,
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: friendly word to Telemachus and his mother, which I trust may
commend itself to both. 'As long,' I would say, 'as you had
ground for hoping that Ulysses would one day come home, no one
could complain of your waiting and suffering {160} the suitors
to be in your house. It would have been better that he should
have returned, but it is now sufficiently clear that he will
never do so; therefore talk all this quietly over with your
mother, and tell her to marry the best man, and the one who
makes her the most advantageous offer. Thus you will yourself be
able to manage your own inheritance, and to eat and drink in
peace, while your mother will look after some other man's house,
The Odyssey |
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 Lucile by Owen Meredith: Of escape save in instant concealment! Deep-dipp'd
In thick foliage, an arbor stood near. In he slipp'd,
Saved from sight, as in front of that ambush they pass'd,
Still conversing. Beneath a laburnum at last
They paused, and sat down on a bench in the shade,
So close that he could not but hear what they said.
XIX.
LUCILE.
Duke, I scarcely conceive . . .
LUVOIS.
Ah! forgive! . . . I desired
|
