| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: experiences in English society. I thought at that time that we
should see very little of it until the spring, but contrary to my
expectation we have been out almost every day since our arrival. We
made our DEBUT in London on the first day of November (the suicidal
month you know) in the midst of an orange-colored fog, in which you
could not see your hand before you. The prospect for the winter
seemed, I must say, rather "triste," but the next day the fog
cleared off, people came constantly to see us, and we had agreeable
invitations for every day, and London put on a new aspect. Out
first dinner was at Lord Palmerston's, where we met what the
newspapers call a distinguished circle. The Marquis of Lansdowne,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Caesar's Commentaries in Latin by Julius Caesar: oporteret, populi Romani iustissimum esse in Gallia imperium; si iudicium
senatus observari oporteret, liberam debere esse Galliam, quam bello
victam suis legibus uti voluisset.
Dum haec in conloquio geruntur, Caesari nuntiatum est equites
Ariovisti propius tumulum accedere et ad nostros adequitare, lapides
telaque in nostros coicere. Caesar loquendi finem fecit seque ad suos
recepit suisque imperavit ne quod omnino telum in hostes reicerent. Nam
etsi sine ullo periculo legionis delectae cum equitatu proelium fore
videbat, tamen committendum non putabat ut, pulsis hostibus, dici posset
eos ab se per fidem in conloquio circumventos. Postea quam in vulgus
militum elatum est qua arrogantia in conloquio Ariovistus usus omni Gallia
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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 In the South Seas by Robert Louis Stevenson: seemed like a landing-place in the ARABIAN NIGHTS or from the
classic poets; here were the fit destination of some 'faery
frigot,' here some adventurous prince might step ashore among new
characters and incidents; and the island prison, where it floated
on the luminous face of the lagoon, might have passed for the
repository of the Grail. In such a scene, and at such an hour, the
impression received was not so much of foreign travel - rather of
past ages; it seemed not so much degrees of latitude that we had
crossed, as centuries of time that we had re-ascended; leaving, by
the same steps, home and to-day. A few children followed us,
mostly nude, all silent; in the clear, weedy waters of the canal
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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 Glasses by Henry James: my having had to put it together for him. He took it from me in
this form without a groan, and I gave it him quite as it came; he
took it again and again, spending his odd half-hours with me as if
for the very purpose of learning how idiotically he was in love.
He told me I made him see things: to begin with, hadn't I first
made him see Flora Saunt? I wanted him to give her up and lucidly
informed him why; on which he never protested nor contradicted,
never was even so alembicated as to declare just for the sake of
the point that he wouldn't. He simply and pointlessly didn't, and
when at the end of three months I asked him what was the use of
talking with such a fellow his nearest approach to a justification
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