| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Kenilworth by Walter Scott: large key, which, lifting aside the tapestry, he applied to a
little, concealed door in the corner of the apartment, and
opening it, disclosed a stair constructed in the thickness of the
wall.
"Alasco," said the Earl, with a voice raised, yet no higher
raised than to be heard by the inhabitant of the small turret to
which the stair conducted--"Alasco, I say, descend."
"I come, my lord," answered a voice from above. The foot of an
aged man was heard slowly descending the narrow stair, and Alasco
entered the Earl's apartment. The astrologer was a little man,
and seemed much advanced in age, for his heard was long and
Kenilworth |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Records of a Family of Engineers by Robert Louis Stevenson: thought for the keepers was continual, and it did not end with
their lives. He tried to manage their successions; he thought
no pains too great to arrange between a widow and a son who
had succeeded his father; he was often harassed and perplexed
by tales of hardship; and I find him writing, almost in
despair, of their improvident habits and the destitution that
awaited their families upon a death. `The house being
completely furnished, they come into possession without
necessaries, and they go out NAKED. The insurance seems to
have failed, and what next is to be tried?' While they lived
he wrote behind their backs to arrange for the education of
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