| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lesson of the Master by Henry James: "No, not when you came to us there."
"Did I pretend? did I pretend badly?" But without waiting for an
answer to this St. George went on: "You ought always to believe
such a girl as that - always, always. Some women are meant to be
taken with allowances and reserves; but you must take HER just as
she is."
"I like her very much," said Paul Overt.
Something in his tone appeared to excite on his companion's part a
momentary sense of the absurd; perhaps it was the air of
deliberation attending this judgement. St. George broke into a
laugh to reply. "It's the best thing you can do with her. She's a
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from King James Bible: in peace: thou art now the blessed of the LORD.
GEN 26:30 And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink.
GEN 26:31 And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to
another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.
GEN 26:32 And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's servants came,
and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto
him, We have found water.
GEN 26:33 And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is
Beersheba unto this day.
GEN 26:34 And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the
daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the
King James Bible |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Protagoras by Plato: I will endeavour to show at the same time how, as I maintain, he ought to
answer: and when I have answered as many questions as he likes to ask, let
him in like manner answer me; and if he seems to be not very ready at
answering the precise question asked of him, you and I will unite in
entreating him, as you entreated me, not to spoil the discussion. And this
will require no special arbiter--all of you shall be arbiters.
This was generally approved, and Protagoras, though very much against his
will, was obliged to agree that he would ask questions; and when he had put
a sufficient number of them, that he would answer in his turn those which
he was asked in short replies. He began to put his questions as follows:--
I am of opinion, Socrates, he said, that skill in poetry is the principal
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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 Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: "Control thy impatience, young man," answered the divine, "and
hear what follows in the sacred text: 'But if her father
disallow her in the day that he heareth, not any of her vows, or
of her bonds wherewith she hath bound her soul, shall stand; and
the Lord shall forgive her, because her father disallowed her."
"And was not," said Lady Ashton, fiercely and triumphantly
breaking in--"was not ours the case stated in the Holy Writ?
Will this person deny, that the instant her parents heard of the
vow, or bond, by which our daughter had bound her soul, we
disallowed the same in the most express terms, and informed him
by writing of our determination?"
The Bride of Lammermoor |
