| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Maria, or the Wrongs of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft: prevail on myself to accept of a place in a house of ill fame, to
which a girl, with whom I had accidentally conversed in the street,
had recommended me. I had been hunted almost into a fever, by the
watchmen of the quarter of the town I frequented; one, whom I had
unwittingly offended, giving the word to the whole pack. You can
scarcely conceive the tyranny exercised by these wretches: considering
themselves as the instruments of the very laws they violate, the
pretext which steels their conscience, hardens their heart. Not
content with receiving from us, outlaws of society (let other women
talk of favours) a brutal gratification gratuitously as a privilege
of office, they extort a tithe of prostitution, and harrass with
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Call of the Canyon by Zane Grey: you for a job."
"I'd give it to you. But aren't you working for the Hutters?"
"Nope. Not any more. Me an' Stanton had a row with them."
How droll and dry he was! His lean, olive-brown face, with its guileless
clear eyes and his lanky figure in blue jeans vividly recalled Oak Creek to
Carley.
"Oh, I'm sorry," returned she haltingly, somehow checked in her warm rush
of thought. "Stanton? . . . Did he quit too?"
"Yep. He sure did."
"What was the trouble?"
"Reckon because Flo made up to Kilbourne," replied Charley, with a grin.
The Call of the Canyon |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Book of Remarkable Criminals by H. B. Irving: To a Freethought advocate who visited him shortly before his
execution, Butler wrote a final confession of faith: "I shall
have to find my way across the harbour bar without the aid of any
pilot. In these matters I have for many years carried an exempt
flag, and, as it has not been carried through caprice or igno-
rance, I am compelled to carry it to the last. There is an
impassable bar of what I honestly believe to be the inexorable
logic of philosophy and facts, history and experience of the
nature of the world, the human race and myself, between me and
the views of the communion of any religious organisation. So
instead of the `depart Christian soul' of the priest, I only hope
A Book of Remarkable Criminals |
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 Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare: a very tall man, a very good whore. Why is not this a lamentable
thing Grandsire, that we should be thus afflicted
with these strange flies: these fashion Mongers, these
pardon-mee's,
who stand so much on the new form, that they
cannot sit at ease on the old bench. O their bones, their
bones.
Enter Romeo.
Ben. Here comes Romeo, here comes Romeo
Mer. Without his Roe, like a dryed Hering. O flesh,
flesh, how art thou fishified? Now is he for the numbers
Romeo and Juliet |
