| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Agesilaus by Xenophon: into so many weaknesses,[7] passing this one by, and scaling that, and
stealing like a thief into a third.
[6] See "Hell." VI. i. 15; "Pol. Lac." v. 7; "Cyrop." I. v. 12.
[7] Or, "the strongholds of the enemy might to all intents and
purposes have been open places."
When he was on the march, and was well aware that an enemy might, if
he chose, deliver battle, his habit was to lead his troops in compact
battle order ready to confront emergencies, with soft, slow step,
advancing, as it were, with maidenly demureness,[8] for in such
procedure, as he believed, lay the secret of true calm, engendering a
dauntless self-assurance, imperturbable, unerring, impervious to
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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 Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde: CECILY. I'm afraid I've no time, this afternoon.
ALGERNON. Well, would you mind my reforming myself this afternoon?
CECILY. It is rather Quixotic of you. But I think you should try.
ALGERNON. I will. I feel better already.
CECILY. You are looking a little worse.
ALGERNON. That is because I am hungry.
CECILY. How thoughtless of me. I should have remembered that when
one is going to lead an entirely new life, one requires regular and
wholesome meals. Won't you come in?
ALGERNON. Thank you. Might I have a buttonhole first? I never
have any appetite unless I have a buttonhole first.
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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 Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy: their use by Melbury in his and his bride's absence, expecting to
find her there as he had left her. The fire was burning still,
but there were no lights. He looked into the next apartment,
fitted up as a little dining-room, but no supper was laid. He
went to the top of the stairs, and heard a chorus of voices in the
timber-merchant's parlor below, Grace's being occasionally
intermingled.
Descending, and looking into the room from the door-way, he found
quite a large gathering of neighbors and other acquaintances,
praising and congratulating Mrs. Fitzpiers on her return, among
them being the dairyman, Farmer Bawtree, and the master-blacksmith
The Woodlanders |
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 Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: sufficiently spread about the hips, and contriv'd with female
softness, that they want only the negative quantity to make them
buxom wenches; and there are women who are, as it were, already
the ebauche of a good sturdy man. If nature cou'd be puzzl'd, it
will be how to bestow the redundant matter of the exuberant
bubbies that now appear about town, or how to roll out the short
dapper fellows into well-siz'd women.
This great conjunction will begin to operate on Saturday the 29th
instant. Accordingly, about eight at night, as Senezino shall
begin at the Opera, si videte, he shall be observ'd to make an
unusual motion; upon which the audience will be affected with a
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