| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tour Through Eastern Counties of England by Daniel Defoe: face of this island was before the Romans' time; that is to say,
before their landing in Britain.
The constitution of this forest is best seen, I mean as to the
antiquity of it, by the merry grant of it from Edward the Confessor
before the Norman Conquest to Randolph Peperking, one of his
favourites, who was after called Peverell, and whose name remains
still in several villages in this county; as particularly that of
Hatfield Peverell, in the road from Chelmsford to Witham, which is
supposed to be originally a park, which they called a field in
those days; and Hartfield may be as much as to say a park for doer;
for the stags were in those days called harts, so that this was
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Underground City by Jules Verne: "Ah! if Nell would only speak!" cried the engineer.
"Mr. Starr--and you, father," said Harry, "I do beg of you to keep
silence on this matter, and not to question my poor Nell. I know she
is very anxious and uneasy; and I feel positive that some great secret
painfully oppresses her heart. Either she knows nothing it would be
of any use for us to hear, or she considers it her duty to be silent.
It is impossible to doubt her affection for us--for all of us.
If at a future time she informs me of what she has hitherto concealed
from us, you shall know about it immediately."
"So be it, then, Harry," answered the engineer; "and yet I must say
Nell's silence, if she knows anything, is to me perfectly inexplicable."
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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 Princess by Alfred Tennyson: And partly conscious of my own deserts,
And partly that you were my civil head,
And chiefly you were born for something great,
In which I might your fellow-worker be,
When time should serve; and thus a noble scheme
Grew up from seed we two long since had sown;
In us true growth, in her a Jonah's gourd,
Up in one night and due to sudden sun:
We took this palace; but even from the first
You stood in your own light and darkened mine.
What student came but that you planed her path
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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 Dracula by Bram Stoker: left no doubt as to their condition.
Van Helsing and I looked at each other, and as we moved away he said,
"We can attend to them later."Then we ascended to Lucy's room.
For an instant or two we paused at the door to listen, but there was
no sound that we could hear. With white faces and trembling hands,
we opened the door gently, and entered the room.
How shall I describe what we saw? On the bed lay two women,
Lucy and her mother. The latter lay farthest in, and she
was covered with a white sheet, the edge of which had been
blown back by the drought through the broken window, showing
the drawn, white, face, with a look of terror fixed upon it.
Dracula |
