| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Chronicles of the Canongate by Walter Scott: explain the motives why I have so long persisted in disclaiming
the works of which I am now writing. To this it would be
difficult to give any other reply, save that of Corporal Nym--it
was the author's humour or caprice for the time. I hope it will
not be construed into ingratitude to the public, to whose
indulgence I have owed my SANG-FROID much more than to any merit
of my own, if I confess that I am, and have been, more
indifferent to success or to failure as an author, than may be
the case with others, who feel more strongly the passion for
literary fame, probably because they are justly conscious of a
better title to it. It was not until I had attained the age of
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence: sound. She slipped on a dressing-gown and went downstairs. Clifford and
Mrs Bolton were playing cards, gambling. They would probably go on
until midnight.
Connie returned to her room, threw her pyjamas on the tossed bed, put
on a thin tennis-dress and over that a woollen day-dress, put on rubber
tennis-shoes, and then a light coat. And she was ready. If she met
anybody, she was just going out for a few minutes. And in the morning,
when she came in again, she would just have been for a little walk in
the dew, as she fairly often did before breakfast. For the rest, the
only danger was that someone should go into her room during the night.
But that was most unlikely: not one chance in a hundred.
Lady Chatterley's Lover |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Collection of Antiquities by Honore de Balzac: thousand francs left. I beg of you not to exceed that amount, if
you should do one of the most devoted servants of your family the
honor of taking it. I present my respects to you.
CHESNEL."
"He is one of Plutarch's men," Victurnien said to himself, as he
tossed the letter on the table. He felt chagrined; such magnanimity
made him feel very small.
"There! one must reform," he thought; and instead of going to a
restaurant and spending fifty or sixty francs over his dinner, he
retrenched by dining with the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, and told her
about the letter.
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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 Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: to learn for his first rule--No chalk, no wheat.
But why?
Why, is more than I can tell, young squire. But if you want to
see how it comes about, look here at this freshly-grubbed land--
how sour it is. You can see that by the colour of it--some black,
some red, some green, some yellow, all full of sour iron, which
will let nothing grow. After the chalk has been on it a year or
two, those colours will have all gone out of it; and it will turn
to a nice wholesome brown, like the rest of the field; and then
you will know that the land is sweet, and fit for any crop. Now
do you mind what I tell you, and then I'll tell you something
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