| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: his country-house: On the 19th an old layman of great fame for
learning: and on the 23rd an eminent goldsmith in Lombard-Street.
I could mention others, both at home and abroad, if I did not
consider it is of very little use or instruction to the reader,
or to the world.
As to publick affairs: On the 7th of this month there will be an
insurrection in Dauphine, occasion'd by the oppressions of the
people, which will not be quieted in some months.
On the 15th will be a violent storm on the south-east coast of
France, which will destroy many of their ships, and some in the
very harbour.
|
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 King of the Golden River by John Ruskin: panic terror that he leaped the last chasm and flung himself,
exhausted and shuddering, on the firm turf of the mountain.
He had been compelled to abandon his basket of food, which
became a perilous incumbrance on the glacier, and had now no means
of refreshing himself but by breaking off and eating some of the
pieces of ice. This, however, relieved his thirst; an hour's repose
recruited his hardy frame, and with the indomitable spirit of
avarice he resumed his laborious journey.
His way now lay straight up a ridge of bare red rocks, without
a blade of grass to ease the foot or a projecting angle to afford an
inch of shade from the south sun. It was past noon and the rays
|