| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas Wentworth Higginson: "What can you do?" he asked gloomily, in return.
"I cannot imagine," she said, with a desolate look, more
pitiable than passion, on her young face. "I wish to save
Hope, and to save my--to save Mr. Lambert. Philip, you do not
love me. I do not call it love. There is no passion in your
veins; it is only a sort of sympathetic selfishness. Hope is
infinitely better than you are, and I believe she is more
capable of loving. I began by hating her, but if she loves you
as I think she does, she has treated me more generously than
ever one woman treated another. For she could not look at me
and not know that I loved you. I did love you. O Philip, tell
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Reign of King Edward the Third by William Shakespeare: They plough the Ocean hitherward amain.
KING JOHN.
Dare he already crop the Fleur de Luce?
I hope, the honey being gathered thence,
He, with the spider, afterward approached,
Shall suck forth deadly venom from the leaves.--
But where's our Navy? how are they prepared
To wing them selves against this flight of Ravens?
MARINER.
They, having knowledge, brought them by the scouts,
Did break from Anchor straight, and, puffed with rage,
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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 Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells: was tricking me, and turned resolutely towards the sound of the
sea again.
In a minute or so the trees grew thinner, and I emerged upon
a bare, low headland running out into the sombre water.
The night was calm and clear, and the reflection of the growing
multitude of the stars shivered in the tranquil heaving of the sea.
Some way out, the wash upon an irregular band of reef shone
with a pallid light of its own. Westward I saw the zodiacal
light mingling with the yellow brilliance of the evening star.
The coast fell away from me to the east, and westward it was hidden
by the shoulder of the cape. Then I recalled the fact that Moreau's
The Island of Doctor Moreau |
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 Moral Emblems by Robert Louis Stevenson: Proudly he treads the village green;
And, free from pettiness and rancour,
Takes lodgings at the 'Crown and Anchor.'
Strange, when a man so great and good
Once more in his home-country stood,
Strange that the sordid clowns should show
A dull desire to have him go.
His clinging breeks, his tarry hat,
The way he swore, the way he spat,
A certain quality of manner,
Alarming like the pirate's banner -
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