| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: He would often declare, in speaking his thoughts upon the subject, that he
did not conceive how the greatest family in England could stand it out
against an uninterrupted succession of six or seven short noses.--And for
the contrary reason, he would generally add, That it must be one of the
greatest problems in civil life, where the same number of long and jolly
noses, following one another in a direct line, did not raise and hoist it
up into the best vacancies in the kingdom.--He would often boast that the
Shandy family rank'd very high in king Harry the VIIIth's time, but owed
its rise to no state engine--he would say--but to that only;--but that,
like other families, he would add--it had felt the turn of the wheel, and
had never recovered the blow of my great-grandfather's nose.--It was an ace
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Adam Bede by George Eliot: ye th' more to do."
With this exit speech, which he considered effective, Wiry Ben
shouldered his basket and left the workshop, quickly followed by
Mum Taft and Sandy Jim. Seth lingered, and looked wistfully at
Adam, as if he expected him to say something.
"Shalt go home before thee go'st to the preaching?" Adam asked,
looking up.
"Nay; I've got my hat and things at Will Maskery's. I shan't be
home before going for ten. I'll happen see Dinah Morris safe
home, if she's willing. There's nobody comes with her from
Poyser's, thee know'st."
Adam Bede |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave by Frederick Douglass: declared that PATRICK HENRY, of revolutionary fame,
never made a speech more eloquent in the cause of
liberty, than the one we had just listened to from
the lips of that hunted fugitive. So I believed at
that time--such is my belief now. I reminded the
audience of the peril which surrounded this self-
emancipated young man at the North,--even in Mas-
sachusetts, on the soil of the Pilgrim Fathers, among
the descendants of revolutionary sires; and I ap-
pealed to them, whether they would ever allow him
to be carried back into slavery,--law or no law, con-
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave |
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 The Research Magnificent by H. G. Wells: Sometimes a man may be struck by a thought as though he had been
struck in the face, and when the name of Mrs. Skelmersdale came into
his head, he glanced at his wife by his side as if it were something
that she might well have heard. Was this indeed the same thing as
that? Wonderful, fresh as the day of Creation, clean as flame, yet
the same! Was Amanda indeed the sister of Mrs. Skelmersdale--
wrought of clean fire, but her sister? . . .
But also beside the inimical aspects which could set such doubts
afoot there were in her infinite variety yet other Amandas neither
very dear nor very annoying, but for the most part delightful, who
entertained him as strangers might, Amandas with an odd twist which
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