| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Twilight Land by Howard Pyle: frothing out of him like hot beer. Such abuse as he showered upon
his travelling companion no man ever listened to before. But to
all the servant said the other answered never a word until he had
stopped for sheer want of breath. Then--
"Poor fool," said the travelling companion, "if you had only held
your tongue a minute longer, you, too, would have had the fruit
of happiness in your hand. Now it will be many a day before you
have a sight of it again."
Thereupon, as he ended speaking, he struck his staff upon the
ground. Instantly the earth trembled, and the sky darkened
overhead until it grew as black as night. Then came a great flash
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from King Henry VI by William Shakespeare: GLOUCESTER.
Yes, as an outlaw in a castle keeps
And useth it to patronage his theft.
WINCHESTER.
Unreverent Gloster!
GLOUCESTER.
Thou art reverent
Touching thy spiritual function, not thy life.
WINCHESTER.
Rome shall remedy this.
WARWICK.
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Les Miserables by Victor Hugo: itself heard. The Minister of War at that time, Marshal Soult,
who had seen Austerlitz, regarded this with a gloomy air.
These old sailors, accustomed to correct manoeuvres and having
as resource and guide only tactics, that compass of battles,
are utterly disconcerted in the presence of that immense foam
which is called public wrath.
The National Guards of the suburbs rushed up in haste and disorder.
A battalion of the 12th Light came at a run from Saint-Denis,
the 14th of the Line arrived from Courbevoie, the batteries of
the Military School had taken up their position on the Carrousel;
cannons were descending from Vincennes.
Les Miserables |
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 Glaucus/The Wonders of the Shore by Charles Kingsley: two feet across.
You may find also a quaint little shrimp, CAPRELLA, clinging by its
hind claws to sea-weed, and waving its gaunt grotesque body to and
fro, while it makes mesmeric passes with its large fore claws, -
one of the most ridiculous of Nature's many ridiculous forms.
Those which you will find will be some quarter of an inch in
length; but in the cold area of the North Atlantic, their cousins,
it is now found, are nearly three inches long, and perch in like
manner, not on sea-weeds, for there are none so deep, but on
branching sponges.
These are but two instances out of many of forms which were
|
