| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Firm of Nucingen by Honore de Balzac: hurried round to the woolen weaver and rushed upon the stock. After
that, no more of the American captain, you understand, and great
plenty of caps. If you interfere with the freedom of trade, because
free trade has its drawbacks, you might as well tie the hands of
justice because a crime sometimes goes unpunished, or blame the bad
organization of society because civilization produces some evils. From
the caps and the Rue Saint-Denis to joint-stock companies and the Bank
----draw your own conclusions."
"A crown for Couture!" said Blondet, twisting a serviette into a
wreath for his head. "I go further than that, gentlemen. If there is a
defect in the working hypothesis, what is the cause? The law! the
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Out of Time's Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs: and five Wieroos, was ushered across the threshold into a large,
irregularly shaped room in which a single, giant Wieroo whose
robe was solid blue sat upon a raised dais.
The creature's face was white with the whiteness of a corpse, its
dead eyes entirely expressionless, its cruel, thin lips tight-drawn
against yellow teeth in a perpetual grimace. Upon either side of
it lay an enormous, curved sword, similar to those with which some
of the other Wieroos had been armed, but larger and heavier.
Constantly its clawlike fingers played with one or the other of
these weapons.
The walls of the chamber as well as the floor were entirely
Out of Time's Abyss |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from To-morrow by Joseph Conrad: down, and he stood before her again.
"It's just like old times. Nearly walloped the
life out of me to stop me going away, and now I
come back he throws a confounded shovel at my
head to keep me out. It grazed my shoulder."
She shuddered.
"I wouldn't care," he began, "only I spent my
last shillings on the railway fare and my last two-
pence on a shave--out of respect for the old man."
"Are you really Harry Hagberd?" she asked.
"Can you prove it?"
To-morrow |
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 Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock: Ye baskings in the vernal sun:
Ye slumbers in the summer dell:
Ye trophies that this arm has won:
And must ye hear your friar's farewell?
But the friar's farewell was not destined to be eternal.
He was domiciled as the family confessor of the earl and
countess of Huntingdon, who led a discreet and courtly life,
and kept up old hospitality in all its munificence,
till the death of King Richard and the usurpation of John,
by placing their enemy in power, compelled them to return to
their greenwood sovereignty; which, it is probable, they would
|
