| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, etc. by Oscar Wilde: silently over their heads, and, before they reached the house, some
big drops of rain had fallen.
Standing on the steps to receive them was an old woman, neatly
dressed in black silk, with a white cap and apron. This was Mrs.
Umney, the housekeeper, whom Mrs. Otis, at Lady Canterville's
earnest request, had consented to keep on in her former position.
She made them each a low curtsey as they alighted, and said in a
quaint, old-fashioned manner, 'I bid you welcome to Canterville
Chase.' Following her, they passed through the fine Tudor hall
into the library, a long, low room, panelled in black oak, at the
end of which was a large stained-glass window. Here they found tea
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Dunwich Horror by H. P. Lovecraft: No one cared to remain there amidst the stench and tarry stickiness,
but all turned instinctively to the line of horrible prints leading
on towards the wrecked Whateley farmhouse and the altar-crowned
slopes of Sentinel Hill.
As the men passed the site of Wilbur
Whateley's abode they shuddered visibly, and seemed again to mix
hesitancy with their zeal. It was no joke tracking down something
as big as a house that one could not see, but that had all the
vicious malevolence of a daemon. Opposite the base of Sentinel
Hill the tracks left the road, and there was a fresh bending and
matting visible along the broad swath marking the monster's former
The Dunwich Horror |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Parmenides by Plato: the others, nor is not-being ever in any way attributed to the others.
No.
Then if one is not, there is no conception of any of the others either as
one or many; for you cannot conceive the many without the one.
You cannot.
Then if one is not, the others neither are, nor can be conceived to be
either one or many?
It would seem not.
Nor as like or unlike?
No.
Nor as the same or different, nor in contact or separation, nor in any of
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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 The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: Captain, with thirty thousand men at his back, and I'll tell you
what I think about his title; but as for running my neck into a
noose, and my good broad lands into the statutory penalties, 'in
that case made and provided,' rely upon it, you will find me no
such fool. So, when you mean to vapour with your hanger and your
dram-cup in support of treasonable toasts, you must find your
liquor and company elsewhere."
"Well, then," said Craigengelt, "name the toast yourself, and be
it what it like, I'll pledge you, were it a mile to the bottom."
"And I'll give you a toast that deserves it, my boy," said
Bucklaw; "what say you to Miss Lucy Ashton?"
The Bride of Lammermoor |
