| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Ancient Regime by Charles Kingsley: found it prudent to realise as large a fortune as possible, not only
against disgrace, but against success, and the dignity fit for a new
member of the Noblesse de la Robe? Would not the system, then, soon
become intolerable? Would there not be evil times for the masses,
till they became something more than masses?
It is an ugly name, that of "The Masses," for the great majority of
human beings in a nation. He who uses it speaks of them not as
human beings, but as things; and as things not bound together in one
living body, but lying in a fortuitous heap. A swarm of ants is not
a mass. It has a polity and a unity. Not the ants but the fir-
needles and sticks, of which the ants have piled their nest, are a
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tono Bungay by H. G. Wells: it--thoroughly. I have crowded memories, a little difficult to
disentangle, of his experimental stages, his experimental
proceedings. It's hard at times to say which memory comes in
front of which. I recall him as presenting on the whole a series
of small surprises, as being again and again, unexpectedly, a
little more self-confident, a little more polished, a little
richer and finer, a little more aware of the positions and values
of things and men.
There was a time--it must have been very early--when I saw him
deeply impressed by the splendours of the dining-room of the
National Liberal Club. Heaven knows who our host was or what
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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 Mansfield Park by Jane Austen: Her eye was eagerly taking in everything within her reach;
and after being at some pains to get a view of the house,
and observing that "it was a sort of building which she
could not look at but with respect," she added, "Now, where
is the avenue? The house fronts the east, I perceive.
The avenue, therefore, must be at the back of it.
Mr. Rushworth talked of the west front."
"Yes, it is exactly behind the house; begins at a little
distance, and ascends for half a mile to the extremity
of the grounds. You may see something of it here--
something of the more distant trees. It is oak entirely."
Mansfield Park |
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 All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare: That ministers thine own death if I die.
HELENA.
If I break time, or flinch in property
Of what I spoke, unpitied let me die;
And well deserv'd. Not helping, death's my fee;
But, if I help, what do you promise me?
KING.
Make thy demand.
HELENA.
But will you make it even?
KING.
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