| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Country Doctor by Honore de Balzac: the energy to produce. In my indolent self-sufficiency I was in a very
fair way to become a fool, for what is a fool but a man who fails to
justify the excellent opinion which he has formed of himself? My
energy was directed towards no definite aims; I wished for the flowers
of life without the toil of cultivating them. I had no idea of the
obstacles, so I imagined that everything was easy; luck, I thought,
accounted for success in science and in business, and genius was
charlatanism. I took it for granted that I should be a great man,
because there was the power of becoming one within me; so I discounted
all my future glory, without giving a thought to the patience required
for the conception of a great work, nor of the execution, in the
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Wrong Box by Stevenson & Osbourne: useful corps (as Morris now began to think) had scarce been kept
sufficiently in view when he embarked upon his enterprise. 'I
must play devilish close,' he reflected, and he was aware of an
exquisite thrill of fear in the region of the spine.
'Main line or loop?' enquired the cabman, through the scuttle.
'Main line,' replied Morris, and mentally decided that the man
should have his shilling after all. 'It would be madness to
attract attention,' thought he. 'But what this thing will cost
me, first and last, begins to be a nightmare!'
He passed through the booking-office and wandered disconsolately
on the platform. It was a breathing-space in the day's traffic.
|
