| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Master of the World by Jules Verne: Garden and the hamlets and farms yet closer to the mountain.
Assuredly it was regrettable that mountain climbers had not
previously attempted to ascend to the summit of the Great Eyrie. The
cliffs of rock which surrounded it had never been scaled. Perhaps
they might offer no path by which even the most daring climber could
penetrate to the interior. Yet, if a volcanic eruption menaced all
the western region of the Carolinas, then a complete examination of
the mountain was become absolutely necessary.
Now before the actual ascent of the crater, with its many serious
difficulties, was attempted, there was one way which offered an
opportunity of reconnoitering the interior, with out clambering up
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Historical Lecturers and Essays by Charles Kingsley: somewhat more angrily than befitted men so pious in the opinion of
the people." So Buchanan himself puts it: but, to do the poor
friars justice, they must have been angels, not men, if they did not
writhe somewhat under the scourge which he had laid on them. To be
told that there was hardly a place in heaven for monks, was hard to
hear and bear. They accused him to the king of heresy; but not
being then in favour with James, they got no answer, and Buchanan
was commanded to repeat the castigation. Having found out that the
friars were not to be touched with impunity, he wrote, he says, a
short and ambiguous poem. But the king, who loved a joke, demanded
something sharp and stinging, and Buchanan obeyed by writing, but
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tik-Tok of Oz by L. Frank Baum: party were girls, he lifted his cap and made a
polite bow.
"What's all this?" demanded a harsh voice, as
Queen Ann reached the place and beheld her
kneeling army.
"Permit us to introduce ourselves," replied
Shaggy, stepping forward. "This is Tik-Tok, the
Clockwork Man--who works better than some meat
people. And here is Princess Ozga of Roseland,
just now unfortunately exiled from her Kingdom of
Roses. I next present Polychrome, a sky fairy, who
Tik-Tok of Oz |
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 Edingburgh Picturesque Notes by Robert Louis Stevenson: dragoons, with the town beating to arms behind their
horses' tails - a sorry handful thus riding for their
lives, but with a man at the head who was to return in a
different temper, make a dash that staggered Scotland to
the heart, and die happily in the thick of fight. There
Aikenhead was hanged for a piece of boyish incredulity;
there, a few years afterwards, David Hume ruined
Philosophy and Faith, an undisturbed and well-reputed
citizen; and thither, in yet a few years more, Burns came
from the plough-tail, as to an academy of gilt unbelief
and artificial letters. There, when the great exodus was
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