| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Records of a Family of Engineers by Robert Louis Stevenson: care, sheets of childish gossip and pedantic applications.
Here, for instance, under date of 26th May 1816, is part of a
mythological account of London, with a moral for the three
gentlemen, `Messieurs Alan, Robert, and James Stevenson,' to
whom the document is addressed:
`There are many prisons here like Bridewell, for, like
other large towns, there are many bad men here as well as many
good men. The natives of London are in general not so tall
and strong as the people of Edinburgh, because they have not
so much pure air, and instead of taking porridge they eat
cakes made with sugar and plums. Here you have thousands of
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson:
Treasure Island |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: the close, tossing steerage: 'O why left I my hame?'
Meantime Jones, relieved of his immediate charge, had gone off to the
galley, where we could see a light. There he found a belated cook
scouring pans by the radiance of two lanterns, and one of these he
sought to borrow. The scullion was backward. 'Was it one of the
crew?' he asked. And when Jones, smitten with my theory, had assured
him that it was a fireman, he reluctantly left his scouring and came
towards us at an easy pace, with one of the lanterns swinging from
his finger. The light, as it reached the spot, showed us an elderly
man, thick-set, and grizzled with years; but the shifting and coarse
shadows concealed from us the expression and even the design of his
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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 Recruit by Honore de Balzac: guarding the property of her son at the peril of her life? And when
she heard of the terrible executions ordered by the Convention, she
slept in peace, knowing that her sole treasure was in safety, far from
danger, far from scaffolds. She took pleasure in believing that they
had each chosen the wisest course, a course which would save to HIM
both life and fortune.
With this secret comfort in her mind, she was ready to make all the
concessions required by those evil days, and without sacrificing
either her dignity as a woman, or her aristocratic beliefs, she
conciliated the good-will of those about her. Madame de Dey had fully
understood the difficulties that awaited her on coming to Carentan. To
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