| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare: Ob. Thou seest these Louers seeke a place to fight,
Hie therefore Robin, ouercast the night,
The starrie Welkin couer thou anon,
With drooping fogge as blacke as Acheron,
And lead these testie Riuals so astray,
As one come not within anothers way.
Like to Lysander, sometime frame thy tongue,
Then stirre Demetrius vp with bitter wrong;
And sometime raile thou like Demetrius;
And from each other looke thou leade them thus,
Till ore their browes, death-counterfeiting, sleepe
A Midsummer Night's Dream |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Facino Cane by Honore de Balzac: the expression of bitterness and sorrow in that grand face of his; the
dead eyes were lighted up, as it were, by a thought within that broke
forth like a burning flame, lit by one sole insatiable desire, written
large in vigorous characters upon an arching brow scored across with
as many lines as an old stone wall.
The old man was playing at random, without the slightest regard for
time or tune. His fingers traveled mechanically over the worn keys of
his instrument; he did not trouble himself over a false note now and
again (a /canard/, in the language of the orchestra), neither did the
dancers, nor, for that matter, did my old Italian's acolytes; for I
had made up my mind that he must be Italian, and an Italian he was.
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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 The Riverman by Stewart Edward White: booming exultantly.
"Roll out, you river-hogs!" he shouted to those who had worked out
their shifts earlier in the night. "Roll out, you web-footed sons
of guns, and hear the little birds sing praise!"
Newmark, who had sat up the night through, and now shivered sleepily
by the fire, began to hunt around for the bed-roll he had, earlier
in the evening, dumped down somewhere in camp.
"I suppose that's all," said he. "Just a case of run logs now.
I'll turn in for a little."
But Orde, a thick slice of bread half-way to his lips, had frozen in
an attitude of attentive listening.
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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 Wrong Box by Stevenson & Osbourne: long ago. I never forgot you since. Say you never forgot me. Say
you never forgot me, and call me Gideon!'
'Isn't this rather--a want of reserve about Jimson?' enquired the
girl.
'O, I know I am an ass,' cried the barrister, 'and I don't care a
halfpenny! I know I'm an ass, and you may laugh at me to your
heart's delight.' And as Julia's lips opened with a smile, he
once more dropped into music. 'There's the Land of Cherry Isle!'
he sang, courting her with his eyes.
'It's like an opera,' said Julia, rather faintly.
'What should it be?' said Gideon. 'Am I not Jimson? It would be
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