| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne: manifesting any terror, as if, seeing men for the first time, they had not
yet learned to fear them. It would have been easy to bring down one of
these quadramani with a gunshot, and Pencroft was greatly tempted to fire,
but Harding opposed so useless a massacre. This was prudent, for the
monkeys, or apes rather, appearing to be very powerful and extremely
active, it was useless to provoke an unnecessary aggression, and the
creatures might, ignorant of the power of the explorers' firearms, have
attacked them. It is true that the sailor considered the monkeys from a
purely alimentary point of view, for those animals which are herbivorous
make very excellent game; but since they had an abundant supply of
provisions, it was a pity to waste their ammunition.
The Mysterious Island |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Dunwich Horror by H. P. Lovecraft: quite to satisfy. Everyone seemed to feel himself in close proximity
to phases of Nature and of being utterly forbidden and wholly
outside the sane experience of mankind.
X.
In the end the three
men from Arkham - old, white-bearded Dr Armitage, stocky, iron-grey
Professor Rice, and lean, youngish Dr Morgan, ascended the mountain
alone. After much patient instruction regarding its focusing and
use, they left the telescope with the frightened group that remained
in the road; and as they climbed they were watched closely by
those among whom the glass was passed round. It was hard going,
The Dunwich Horror |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) by Dante Alighieri: judgment and taste."
v. 127. Bede.] Bede, whose virtues obtained him the appellation
of the Venerable, was born in 672 at Wearmouth and Jarrow, in the
bishopric of Durham, and died in 735. Invited to Rome by Pope
Sergius I., he preferred passing almost the whole of his life in
the seclusion of a monastery. A catalogue of his numerous
writings may be seen in Kippis's Biographia Britannica, v. ii.
v. 127. Richard.] Richard of St. Victor, a native either of
Scotland or Ireland, was canon and prior of the monastery of that
name at Paris and died in 1173. "He was at the head of the
Mystics in this century and his treatise, entitled the Mystical
The Divine Comedy (translated by H.F. Cary) |
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 Men of Iron by Howard Pyle: many thoughts of past and present things. At last the reading
ended, and then he calmly and composedly obeyed, under the
direction of his attorney, the several forms and ceremonies that
followed; answered the various official questions, took the
various oaths. Then Gascoyne, leading the horse by the bridle-
rein, conducted him back to his station at the east end of the
lists.
As the faithful friend and squire made one last and searching
examination of arms and armor, the Marshal and the clerk came to
the young champion and administered the final oath by which he
swore that he carried no concealed weapons.
Men of Iron |
