| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Wrecker by Stevenson & Osbourne: Mamie. I admit it was a tactless performance. "When you
know our friend a little better," was not happily said; and even
"keep him in good order, for he needs it" might be construed
into matter of offence; but I lay it before you in all confidence of
your acquittal: was the general tone of it "patronising"? Even if
such was the verdict of the lady, I cannot but suppose the
blame was neither wholly hers nor wholly mine; I cannot but
suppose that Pinkerton had already sickened the poor woman
of my very name; so that if I had come with the songs of
Apollo, she must still have been disgusted.
Here, however, were two finger-posts to Paris. Jim was going
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: you will have no difficulty for want of light in the stable,
for, if I recollect, half the roof is off."
"Very true, my lord," replied the trusty adherent, and with
ready wit instantly added, "and the lazy sclater loons have never
come to put it on a' this while, your lordship."
"If I were disposed to jest at the calamities of my house," said
Ravenswood, as he led the way upstairs, "poor old Caleb would
furnish me with ample means. His passion consists in
representing things about our miserable menage, not as they are,
but as, in his opinion, they ought to be; and, to say the truth,
I have been often diverted with the poor wretch's expedients to
The Bride of Lammermoor |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton: is necessary that you should marry her within the hour."
Tony, at this, for all his spirit, felt the blood run thin in his
veins. He looked in silence at the threatening visages between
himself and the door, stole a side-glance at the high barred
windows of the apartment, and then turned to Polixena, who had
fallen sobbing at her father's feet.
"And if I refuse?" said he.
The Count made a significant gesture. "I am not so foolish as to
threaten a man of your mettle. But perhaps you are unaware what
the consequences would be to the lady."
Polixena, at this, struggling to her feet, addressed a few
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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 Familiar Studies of Men and Books by Robert Louis Stevenson: proportion of that canvas on which armies manoeuvre, and
great hills pile themselves upon each other's shoulders.
Fielding's characters were always great to the full stature
of a perfectly arbitrary will. Already in Scott we begin to
have a sense of the subtle influences that moderate and
qualify a man's personality; that personality is no longer
thrown out in unnatural isolation, but is resumed into its
place in the constitution of things.
It is this change in the manner of regarding men and their
actions first exhibited in romance, that has since renewed
and vivified history. For art precedes philosophy and even
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