| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy: "Ah, well! if Monsieur is satisfied, I have no griefs. You
mi'lor', are our protector. If I have done wrong, I withdraw myself."
"Aye, do!" rejoined Blakeney, with a long sigh of
satisfaction, "withdraw yourself over there. Demmed excitable little
puppy," he added under his breath, "Faith, Ffoulkes, if that's a
specimen of the goods you and your friends bring over from France, my
advice to you is, drop `em `mid Channel, my friend, or I shall have to
see old Pitt about it, get him to clap on a prohibitive tariff, and
put you in the stocks an you smuggle."
"La, Sir Percy, your chivalry misguides you," said Marguerite,
coquettishly, "you forget that you yourself have imported one bundle
The Scarlet Pimpernel |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence: The boy only ran for her. He flew home with his anvil, breathless,
with a "Look, mother!" That was the first real tribute to herself.
She took it like a queen.
"How pretty!" she exclaimed.
Then he began to get ambitious. He gave all his money to
his mother. When he earned fourteen shillings a week, she gave him
back two for himself, and, as he never drank, he felt himself rich.
He went about with the bourgeois of Bestwood. The townlet contained
nothing higher than the clergyman. Then came the bank manager,
then the doctors, then the tradespeople, and after that the hosts
of colliers. Willam began to consort with the sons of the chemist,
Sons and Lovers |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Confidence by Henry James: upon them.
Longueville, noting all this, went straight into the gaming-rooms;
he was curious to see whether his friend, being fond
of experiments, was trying combinations at roulette.
But he was not to be found in any of the gilded chambers,
among the crowd that pressed in silence about the tables;
so that Bernard presently came and began to wander
about the lamp-lit terrace, where innumerable groups,
seated and strolling, made the place a gigantic conversazione.
It seemed to him very agreeable and amusing, and he remarked
to himself that, for a man who was supposed not to take especially
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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 and Other Poems by Oscar Wilde: For fear of bold Poseidon's ravishment,
And loose their girdles, with shy timorous eyes,
Lest from the surf his azure arms and purple beard should rise.
On this side and on that a rocky cave,
Hung with the yellow-belled laburnum, stands
Smooth is the beach, save where some ebbing wave
Leaves its faint outline etched upon the sands,
As though it feared to be too soon forgot
By the green rush, its playfellow, - and yet, it is a spot
So small, that the inconstant butterfly
Could steal the hoarded money from each flower
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