| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lucile by Owen Meredith: His course, by each star that would cross it, was set,
And whatever he did he was sure to regret.
That target, discuss'd by the travellers of old,
Which to one appear'd argent, to one appear'd gold,
To him, ever lingering on Doubt's dizzy margent,
Appear'd in one moment both golden and argent.
The man who seeks one thing in life, and but one,
May hope to achieve it before life be done;
But he who seeks all things, wherever he goes,
Only reaps from the hopes which around him he sows
A harvest of barren regrets. And the worm
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Personal Record by Joseph Conrad: B. breathed the air of the "Border," his native air. Unkind fate
was lying in wait for him among the scenes of his youth. At the
first news of the rising in Warsaw all the remount establishment,
officers, "vets.," and the very troopers, were put promptly under
arrest and hurried off in a body beyond the Dnieper to the
nearest town in Russia proper. From there they were dispersed to
the distant parts of the empire. On this occasion poor Mr.
Nicholas B. penetrated into Russia much farther than he ever did
in the times of Napoleonic invasion, if much less willingly.
Astrakan was his destination. He remained there three years,
allowed to live at large in the town, but having to report
A Personal Record |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: the door of the secret room, which was filled, no doubt, with gold. He
asked for an explanation of every noise he heard, even the slightest;
to the great astonishment of the notary, he even heard the watch-dog
yawning in the court-yard. He woke up from his apparent stupor at the
day and hour when the rents were due, or when accounts had to be
settled with his vine-dressers, and receipts given. At such times he
worked his chair forward on its castors until he faced the door of the
inner room. He made his daughter open it, and watched while she placed
the bags of money one upon another in his secret receptacles and
relocked the door. Then she returned silently to her seat, after
giving him the key, which he replaced in his waistcoat pocket and
Eugenie Grandet |
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 King of the Golden River by John Ruskin: enough for myself," and on he went. Then again the light seemed to
fade from before his eyes, and he looked up, and, behold, a mist, of
the color of blood, had come over the sun; and the bank of black
cloud had risen very high, and its edges were tossing and tumbling
like the waves of the angry sea and they cast long shadows which
flickered over Schwartz's path.
Then Schwartz climbed for another hour, and again his thirst
returned; and as he lifted his flask to his lips he thought he saw
his brother Hans lying exhausted on the path before him, and as he
gazed the figure stretched its arms to him and cried for water.
"Ha, ha!" laughed Schwartz, "are you there? Remember the prison
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