| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle: "And didst thou, Little John," said Robin in a sad voice,
"call his lordship a fat priest?"
"Ay," said Little John sorrowfully.
"And a man-eating bishop?"
"Ay," said Little John, more sorrowfully than before.
"And a money-gorging usurer?"
"Ay," said Little John in so sorrowful a voice that it might have drawn
tears from the Dragon of Wentley.
"Alas, that these things should be!" said jolly Robin, turning to the Bishop,
"for I have ever found Little John a truthful man."
At this, a roar of laughter went up, whereat the blood rushed
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Polly of the Circus by Margaret Mayo: this pretext for investigation, she, too, joined the little group
at the window.
A few moments later when Douglas entered for a fresh supply of
paper, the backs of the company were toward him. He crossed to
the study table without disturbing his visitors, and smiled to
himself at the eager way in which they were hanging out of the
window.
Douglas was a sturdy young man of eight and twenty, frank and
boyish in manner, confident and light-hearted in spirit. He had
seemed too young to the deacons when he was appointed to their
church, and his keen enjoyment of outdoor games and other
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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 The Psychology of Revolution by Gustave le Bon: Corps recruited themselves, and were not elected by the people.
In creating a Constitution intended solely to fortify his own
power, the First Consul had no illusion that it would serve to
restore the country. Consequently, while he was drafting it he
also undertook the enormous task of the administrative, judicial,
and financial reorganisation of France. The various powers were
centralised in Paris. Each department was directed by a prefect,
assisted by a consul-general; the arrondissement by a sub-
prefect, assisted by a council; the commune by a mayor, assisted
by a municipal council. All were appointed by the ministers, and
not by election, as under the Republic.
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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 The Ancient Regime by Charles Kingsley: the wars of Louis XIV. they were feverish, factitious, temporary--
soon, as the event proved, to droop into the general exhaustion. If
wars were still to be waged they were to be wars of succession, wars
of diplomacy; not wars of principle, waged for the mightiest
invisible interests of man. The exhaustion was general; and to it
we must attribute alike the changes and the conservatism of the
Ancien Regime. To it is owing that growth of a centralising
despotism, and of arbitrary regal power, which M. de Tocqueville has
set forth in a book which I shall have occasion often to quote. To
it is owing, too, that longing, which seems to us childish, after
ancient forms, etiquettes, dignities, court costumes, formalities
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