| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Ebb-Tide by Stevenson & Osbourne: 'ave a gun in your pocket, and anybody can see with 'alf an eye
that you ain't the man to 'esitate about usin' it. So it's no go
with you, and never was; you're out of the runnin', Dyvis. But
he won't be afryde of me, I'm such a little un! I'm unarmed--no
kid about that--and I'll hold my 'ands up right enough.' He
paused. 'If I can manage to sneak up nearer to him as we talk,'
he resumed, 'you look out and back me up smart. If I don't, we
go aw'y again, and nothink to 'urt. See?'
The captain's face was contorted by the frenzied effort to
comprehend.
'No, I don't see,' he cried, 'I can't see. What do you mean?'
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Plutarch's Lives by A. H. Clough: Hercules's son, and that she was married to Aeneas, or, according to
others again, to Ascanius, Aeneas's son. Some tell us that Romanus, the
son of Ulysses and Circe, built it; some, Romus the son of Emathion,
Diomede having sent him from Troy; and others, Romus, king of the
Latins, after driving out the Tyrrhenians, who had come from Thessaly
into Lydia, and from thence into Italy. Those very authors, too, who,
in accordance with the safest account, make Romulus give the name to the
city, yet differ concerning his birth and family. For some say, he was
son to Aeneas and Dexithea, daughter of Phorbas, and was, with his
brother Remus, in their infancy, carried into Italy, and being on the
river when the waters came down in a flood, all the vessels were cast
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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 Z. Marcas by Honore de Balzac: outlet in France; it is gathering an avalanche of underrated
capabilities, of legitimate and restless ambitions; young men are not
marrying now; families cannot tell what to do with their children.
What will the thunderclap be that will shake down these masses? I know
not, but they will crash down into the midst of things, and overthrow
everything. These are laws of hydrostatics which act on the human
race; the Roman Empire had failed to understand them, and the Barbaric
hordes came down.
"The Barbaric hordes now are the intelligent class. The laws of
overpressure are at this moment acting slowly and silently in our
midst. The Government is the great criminal; it does not appreciate
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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 The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen: another three weeks or a month. I thought I might as well
inquire whether Meyrick knew an Englishwoman named Herbert, and
if so, whether the doctor could give me any information about
her. But it's very possible that Meyrick fell in with her at
New York, or Mexico, or San Francisco; I have no idea as to the
extent or direction of his travels."
"Yes, and it's very possible that the woman may have
more than one name."
"Exactly. I wish I had thought of asking you to lend
me the portrait of her which you possess. I might have enclosed
it in my letter to Dr. Matthews."
The Great God Pan |
