| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Shadow Line by Joseph Conrad: would be like a death sentence on the men. We
haven't strength enough on board to bend another
suit; incredible thought, but it is true. Or we may
even get dismasted. Ships have been dismasted in
squalls simply because they weren't handled quick
enough, and we have no power to whirl the yards
around. It's like being bound hand and foot pre-
paratory to having one's throat cut. And what
appals me most of all is that I shrink from going on
deck to face it. It's due to the ship, it's due to the
men who are there on deck--some of them, ready
The Shadow Line |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Rape of Lucrece by William Shakespeare: 'But tell me, girl, when went'--(and there she stay'd
Till after a deep groan) 'Tarquin from, hence?'
'Madam, ere I was up,' replied the maid,
'The more to blame my sluggard negligence:
Yet with the fault I thus far can dispense;
Myself was stirring ere the break of day,
And, ere I rose, was Tarquin gone away.
'But, lady, if your maid may be so bold,
She would request to know your heaviness.'
'O peace!' quoth Lucrece: 'if it should be told,
The repetition cannot make it less;
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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 Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: its own reward. Baseless, in a sense, it is more than worth more
permanent improvements. The dream of health is perfect while it
lasts; and if, in trying to realise it, you speedily wear out the
dear hallucination, still every day, and many times a day, you are
conscious of a strength you scarce possess, and a delight in living
as merry as it proves to be transient.
The brightness - heaven and earth conspiring to be bright - the
levity and quiet of the air; the odd stirring silence - more stirring
than a tumult; the snow, the frost, the enchanted landscape: all
have their part in the effect and on the memory, 'TOUS VOUS TAPENT
SUR LA TETE'; and yet when you have enumerated all, you have gone no
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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 Elixir of Life by Honore de Balzac: lovers, and the credulous among the crowd.
And note how often we are deceived in the homage we pay; the
great man scoffs at those who praise him, and pays compliments
now and again to those whom he laughs at in the depths of his
heart.
Just as the Abbot, prostrate before the altar, was chanting
"Sancte Johannes, ora pro noblis!" he heard a voice exclaim
sufficiently distinctly: "O coglione!"
"What can be going on up there?" cried the Sub-prior, as he saw
the reliquary move.
"The saint is playing the devil," replied the Abbot.
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