| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Battle of the Books by Jonathan Swift: or far from the spring.
At the fountain-head Wotton discerned two heroes; the one he could
not distinguish, but the other was soon known for Temple, general
of the allies to the Ancients. His back was turned, and he was
employed in drinking large draughts in his helmet from the
fountain, where he had withdrawn himself to rest from the toils of
the war. Wotton, observing him, with quaking knees and trembling
hands, spoke thus to himself: O that I could kill this destroyer
of our army, what renown should I purchase among the chiefs! but to
issue out against him, man against man, shield against shield, and
lance against lance, what Modern of us dare? for he fights like a
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Chronicles of the Canongate by Walter Scott: 1797, exhibited the same remorse of conscience after he had
violated his allegiance. In countries where such principles
prevail, and regulate the character of a people, the mass of the
population may, on occasions of trial, be reckoned on as sound
and trustworthy."--Vol.II., p.218. 3rd Edit.
"The late James Menzies of Culdares, having engaged in the
rebellion of 1715, and been taken at Preston, in Lancashire, was
carried to London, where he was tried and condemned, but
afterwards reprieved. Grateful for this clemency, he remained at
home in 1745, but, retaining a predilection for the old cause, he
sent a handsome charger as a present to Prince Charles, when
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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 At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft: we had not a larger film supply with us. As it was, we made crude
notebook sketches of certain salient features after all our films
were used up.
The building which we had entered was one of great
size and elaborateness, and gave us an impressive notion of the
architecture of that nameless geologic past. The inner partitions
were less massive than the outer walls, but on the lower levels
were excellently preserved. Labyrinthine complexity, involving
curiously irregular difference in floor levels, characterized
the entire arrangement; and we should certainly have been lost
at the very outset but for the trail of torn paper left behind
At the Mountains of Madness |
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 Shadow out of Time by H. P. Lovecraft: by the fantastic stalactites of the jagged floor above me.
I
was now close to the great underground archival structure which
seemed to form my goal. Sliding and clambering down the farther
side of the barrier, and picking my way along the remaining stretch
of corridor with hand-held, intermittently flashing torch, I came
at last to a low, circular crypt with arches - still in a marvelous
state of preservation - opening off on every side.
The walls,
or such parts of them as lay within reach of my torchlight, were
densely hieroglyphed and chiselled with typical curvilinear symbols
Shadow out of Time |
