| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy: do those things now as they build ruins on maiden estates and cast
antiques at Birmingham.'
Elfride merely listened and said nothing.
He continued more quietly and impressively. 'Yes, Elfride, she is
wealthy in comparison with us, though with few connections.
However, she will introduce you to the world a little. We are
going to exchange her house in Baker Street for one at Kensington,
for your sake. Everybody is going there now, she says. At
Easters we shall fly to town for the usual three months--I shall
have a curate of course by that time. Elfride, I am past love,
you know, and I honestly confess that I married her for your sake.
A Pair of Blue Eyes |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Master of Ballantrae by Robert Louis Stevenson: his name; a most notorious pirate. He stamped about the deck,
raving and crying out that his name was Satan, and his ship was
called Hell. There was something about him like a wicked child or
a half-witted person, that daunted me beyond expression. I
whispered in the ear of Ballantrae that I would not be the last to
volunteer, and only prayed God they might be short of hands; he
approved my purpose with a nod.
"Bedad," said I to Master Teach, "if you are Satan, here is a devil
for ye."
The word pleased him; and (not to dwell upon these shocking
incidents) Ballantrae and I and two others were taken for recruits,
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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 Herodias by Gustave Flaubert: silken skirts of pale hues that enveloped her limbs when she stood
erect, now fell to her shoulders and surrounded her face like a
rainbow. Her lips were tinted a deep crimson, her arched eyebrows were
black as jet, her glowing eyes had an almost terrible radiance; and
the tiny drops of perspiration on her forehead looked like dew upon
white marble.
She made no sound; and the burning gaze of that multitude of men was
concentrated upon her.
A sound like the snapping of fingers came from the gallery over the
pavilion. Instantly, with one of her movements of bird-like swiftness,
Salome stood erect. The next moment she rapidly passed up a flight of
Herodias |
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 New Machiavelli by H. G. Wells: that anything of the sort existed in the world. We were hopelessly
at a disadvantage. Almost instantly we had developed a clear and
detailed vision of a magazine made up of everything that was most
acceptable in the magazines that flourished in the adult world about
us, and had determined to make it a success. He had by a kind of
instinct, as it were, synthetically plagiarised every successful
magazine and breathed into this dusty mixture the breath of life.
He was elected at his own suggestion managing director, with the
earnest support of Shoesmith and Naylor, and conducted the magazine
so successfully and brilliantly that he even got a whole back page
of advertisements from the big sports shop in Holborn, and made the
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