| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Some Reminiscences by Joseph Conrad: or so. This relative of ours happened to be an Austrian officer,
who had left the service after the battle of Austerlitz. Unlike
Mr. Nicholas B., who concealed his decorations, he liked to
display his honourable discharge in which he was mentioned as
unschreckbar (fearless) before the enemy. No conjunction could
seem more unpromising, yet it stands in the family tradition that
these two got on very well together in their rural solitude.
When asked whether he had not been sorely tempted during the
Hundred Days to make his way again to France and join the service
of his beloved Emperor, Mr. Nicholas B. used to mutter: "No
money. No horse. Too far to walk."
Some Reminiscences |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers by Jonathan Swift: undergone and may hereafter suffer, several alterations. Every
smatterer in anatomy knows, that a woman is but an introverted
man; a new fusion and flatus will turn the hollow bottom of a
bottle into a convexity; but I forbear, (for the sake of my
modest men-readers, who are in a few days to be virgins.)
In some subjects, the smallest alterations will do: some men are
sufficiently spread about the hips, and contriv'd with female
softness, that they want only the negative quantity to make them
buxom wenches; and there are women who are, as it were, already
the ebauche of a good sturdy man. If nature cou'd be puzzl'd, it
will be how to bestow the redundant matter of the exuberant
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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 In the Cage by Henry James: described as the effect of the apprehension of imminent relief. It
was nineteen days, counted and checked off, since she had seen the
object of her homage; and as, had he been in London, she should,
with his habits, have been sure to see him often, she was now about
to learn what other spot his presence might just then happen to
sanctify. For she thought of them, the other spots, as
ecstatically conscious of it, expressively happy in it.
But, gracious, how handsome was her ladyship, and what an added
price it gave him that the air of intimacy he threw out should have
flowed originally from such a source! The girl looked straight
through the cage at the eyes and lips that must so often have been
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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 Charmides by Plato: I like that, he said.
Hear, then, I said, my own dream; whether coming through the horn or the
ivory gate, I cannot tell. The dream is this: Let us suppose that wisdom
is such as we are now defining, and that she has absolute sway over us;
then each action will be done according to the arts or sciences, and no one
professing to be a pilot when he is not, or any physician or general, or
any one else pretending to know matters of which he is ignorant, will
deceive or elude us; our health will be improved; our safety at sea, and
also in battle, will be assured; our coats and shoes, and all other
instruments and implements will be skilfully made, because the workmen will
be good and true. Aye, and if you please, you may suppose that prophecy,
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