| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Juana by Honore de Balzac: of a man who was ready to demolish everything; but his brother
officers did not esteem him. The fortune he possessed made him
cautious. He was nicknamed, for two reasons, "captain of crows." In
the first place, he could smell powder a league off, and took wing at
the sound of a musket; secondly, the nickname was based on an innocent
military pun, which his position in the regiment warranted. Captain
Montefiore, of the illustrious Montefiore family of Milan (though the
laws of the Kingdom of Italy forbade him to bear his title in the
French service) was one of the handsomest men in the army. This beauty
may have been among the secret causes of his prudence on fighting
days. A wound which might have injured his nose, cleft his forehead,
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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 Odyssey by Homer: for the men used to go with their barbed hooks, all over the
island in the hope of catching a fish or two to save them from
the pangs of hunger. 'Stranger,' said she, 'it seems to me that
you like starving in this way--at any rate it does not greatly
trouble you, for you stick here day after day, without even
trying to get away though your men are dying by inches.'
"'Let me tell you,' said I, 'whichever of the goddesses you may
happen to be, that I am not staying here of my own accord, but
must have offended the gods that live in heaven. Tell me,
therefore, for the gods know everything, which of the immortals
it is that is hindering me in this way, and tell me also how I
The Odyssey |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: blind stage before which an expectant world sat as an audience.
It had not long to wait, for on the fifteenth and sixteenth it
learned that Kuang Hsu and the Empress Dowager, less than
twenty-four hours apart, had taken "the fairy ride and ascended
upon the dragon to be guests on high." The world looked on in
awe. It expected a demonstration if not a revolution but nothing
of the kind happened. But on the other hand one of the most
difficult diplomatic problems of her history was solved in a
quiet and peaceable, if not a statesman-like way, by the aged
Dowager and her officials, and China once more had upon her
throne an emperor, though only a child, about whose succession
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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 'Twixt Land & Sea by Joseph Conrad: part to encourage sneering on board my ship. It must be said, too,
that I knew very little of my officers. In consequence of certain
events of no particular significance, except to myself, I had been
appointed to the command only a fortnight before. Neither did I
know much of the hands forward. All these people had been together
for eighteen months or so, and my position was that of the only
stranger on board. I mention this because it has some bearing on
what is to follow. But what I felt most was my being a stranger to
the ship; and if all the truth must be told, I was somewhat of a
stranger to myself. The youngest man on board (barring the second
mate), and untried as yet by a position of the fullest
'Twixt Land & Sea |
