| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin: MacIvor, Rose Bradwardine, Catherine Seyton, Diana Vernon, Lilias
Redgauntlet, Alice Bridgenorth, Alice Lee, and Jeanie Deans,--with
endless varieties of grace, tenderness, and intellectual power, we
find in all a quite infallible sense of dignity and justice; a
fearless, instant, and untiring self-sacrifice, to even the
appearance of duty, much more to its real claims; and, finally, a
patient wisdom of deeply-restrained affection, which does infinitely
more than protect its objects from a momentary error; it gradually
forms, animates, and exalts the characters of the unworthy lovers,
until, at the close of the tale, we are just able, and no more, to
take patience in hearing of their unmerited success.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: in a corner of his pocket-handkerchief. He was always the first to enter
the dining-room and the last to leave; and in a vacant chair beside him he
placed a little black leather bag.
In the afternoon, leaning from my window, I saw him pass down the street,
walking tremulously and carrying the bag. Each time he passed a lamp-post
he shrank a little, as though expecting it to strike him, or maybe the
sense of plebeian contamination...
I wondered where he was going, and why he carried the bag. Never had I
seen him at the Casino or the Bath Establishment. He looked forlorn, his
feet slipped in his sandals. I found myself pitying the Baron.
That evening a party of us were gathered in the salon discussing the day's
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Reign of King Edward the Third by William Shakespeare: For Sara owes that duty to her Lord.
He that doth clip or counterfeit your stamp
Shall die, my Lord; and will your sacred self
Commit high treason against the King of heaven,
To stamp his Image in forbidden metal,
Forgetting your allegiance and your oath?
In violating marriage sacred law,
You break a greater honor than your self:
To be a King is of a younger house
Than to be married; your progenitour,
Sole reigning Adam on the universe,
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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 Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock: the casement, and the storm of blows to resound upon the door,
which at length gave way with a violent crash, and a cluster
of armed men appeared without, seemingly not less than twelve.
Behind them rolled the stream now changed from a gentle and shallow
river to a mighty and impetuous torrent, roaring in waves of
yellow foam, partially reddened by the light that streamed through
the open door, and turning up its convulsed surface in flashes
of shifting radiance from restless masses of half-visible shadow.
The stepping-stones, by which the intruders must have crossed,
were buried under the waters. On the opposite bank the light
fell on the stems and boughs of the rock-rooted oak and ash
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