| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Hamlet by William Shakespeare: To show your selfe your Fathers sonne indeed,
More then in words?
Laer. To cut his throat i'th' Church
Kin. No place indeed should murder Sancturize;
Reuenge should haue no bounds: but good Laertes
Will you doe this, keepe close within your Chamber,
Hamlet return'd, shall know you are come home:
Wee'l put on those shall praise your excellence,
And set a double varnish on the fame
The Frenchman gaue you, bring you in fine together,
And wager on your heads, he being remisse,
Hamlet |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Weir of Hermiston by Robert Louis Stevenson: but ethereal and perishable like a strain of music; and he felt for it
an exquisite tenderness as for a child, an innocent, full of beautiful
instincts and destined to an early death. And he felt for old Torrance
- of the many supplications, of the few days - a pity that was near to
tears. The prayer ended. Right over him was a tablet in the wall, the
only ornament in the roughly masoned chapel - for it was no more; the
tablet commemorated, I was about to say the virtues, but rather the
existence of a former Rutherford of Hermiston; and Archie, under that
trophy of his long descent and local greatness, leaned back in the pew
and contemplated vacancy with the shadow of a smile between playful and
sad, that became him strangely. Dandie's sister, sitting by the side of
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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 Across The Plains by Robert Louis Stevenson: had at last to be rescued by his old enemies, the police, out of
the hands of his rebellious followers. It was while he was at the
top of his fortune that Kearney visited Monterey with his battle-
cry against Chinese labour, the railroad monopolists, and the land-
thieves; and his one articulate counsel to the Montereyans was to
"hang David Jacks." Had the town been American, in my private
opinion, this would have been done years ago. Land is a subject on
which there is no jesting in the West, and I have seen my friend
the lawyer drive out of Monterey to adjust a competition of titles
with the face of a captain going into battle and his Smith-and-
Wesson convenient to his hand.
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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 La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: was strangely excited by hearing that Madame de Merret had need of my
services. Nor was I the only person who took an interest in the
affair. That very night, though it was already late, all the town knew
that I was going to Merret.
" 'The waiting-woman replied but vaguely to the questions I asked her
on the way; nevertheless, she told me that her mistress had received
the Sacrament in the course of the day at the hands of the Cure of
Merret, and seemed unlikely to live through the night. It was about
eleven when I reached the chateau. I went up the great staircase.
After crossing some large, lofty, dark rooms, diabolically cold and
damp, I reached the state bedroom where the Countess lay. From the
La Grande Breteche |
