| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Wrong Box by Stevenson & Osbourne: Bloomsbury, there's no sort of trouble. We bury him in the
cellar, which seems made for it; and then all I have to do is to
start out and find a venal doctor.'
'Why can't we leave him where he is?' asked John.
'Because we know nothing about the country,' retorted Morris.
'This wood may be a regular lovers' walk. Turn your mind to the
real difficulty. How are we to get him up to Bloomsbury?'
Various schemes were mooted and rejected. The railway station at
Browndean was, of course, out of the question, for it would now
be a centre of curiosity and gossip, and (of all things) they
would be least able to dispatch a dead body without remark. John
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from 1984 by George Orwell: face. No faces covered in the cells.'
Winston uncovered his face. Parsons used the lavatory, loudly and
abundantly. It then turned out that the plug was defective and the cell
stank abominably for hours afterwards.
Parsons was removed. More prisoners came and went, mysteriously. One, a
woman, was consigned to 'Room 101', and, Winston noticed, seemed to shrivel
and turn a different colour when she heard the words. A time came when, if
it had been morning when he was brought here, it would be afternoon; or if
it had been afternoon, then it would be midnight. There were six prisoners
in the cell, men and women. All sat very still. Opposite Winston there sat
a man with a chinless, toothy face exactly like that of some large,
1984 |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: a Henry IV. instead of a Gaston de Foix. We find the old theory
of man's central position in the universe--the foundation of the
doctrine of final causes and of the whole theological method of
interpreting nature--finally overthrown by Copernicus. Instead of
the circumnavigability of the earth, the discovery of a Northwest
passage--as instanced by the heroic voyage of Barendz, so nobly
described by Mr. Motley--is now the chief geographical problem.
East India Companies, in place of petty guilds of weavers and
bakers, bear witness to the vast commercial progress. We find
England, fresh from her stupendous victory over the whole power
of Spain, again in the front rank of nations; France, under the
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
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 Common Sense by Thomas Paine: the King is law, so in free countries the law OUGHT to be King;
and there ought to be no other. But lest any ill use should
afterwards arise, let the crown at the conclusion of the ceremony,
be demolished, and scattered among the people whose right it is.
A government of our own is our natural right: And when a man seriously
reacts on the precariousness of human affairs, he will become convinced,
that it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a constitution
of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have it in our power,
than to trust such an interesting event to time and chance.
If we omit it now, some [Thomas Anello otherwise Massanello
a fisherman of Naples, who after spiriting up his countrymen
Common Sense |
