| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Crito by Plato: having brought you into the world, and nurtured and educated you, and given
you and every other citizen a share in every good which we had to give, we
further proclaim to any Athenian by the liberty which we allow him, that if
he does not like us when he has become of age and has seen the ways of the
city, and made our acquaintance, he may go where he pleases and take his
goods with him. None of us laws will forbid him or interfere with him.
Any one who does not like us and the city, and who wants to emigrate to a
colony or to any other city, may go where he likes, retaining his property.
But he who has experience of the manner in which we order justice and
administer the state, and still remains, has entered into an implied
contract that he will do as we command him. And he who disobeys us is, as
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Professor by Charlotte Bronte: honesty over policy? It would be worth a man's while to try the
experiment; to-morrow I will renew my observations. She knows
that I watch her: how calm she is under scrutiny! it seems rather
to gratify than annoy her." Here a strain of music stole in upon
my monologue, and suspended it; it was a bugle, very skilfully
played, in the neighbourhood of the park, I thought, or on the
Place Royale. So sweet were the tones, so subduing their effect
at that hour, in the midst of silence and under the quiet reign
of moonlight, I ceased to think, that I might listen more
intently. The strain retreated, its sound waxed fainter and was
soon gone; my ear prepared to repose on the absolute hush of
The Professor |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Tour Through Eastern Counties of England by Daniel Defoe: and then in barges up the Ouse, from the Ouse into the Cam, and so,
as I say, to the very edge of the fair.
In like manner great quantities of heavy goods, and the hops among
the rest, are sent from the fair to Lynn by water, and shipped
there for the Humber, to Hull, York, etc., and for Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, and by Newcastle, even to Scotland itself. Now as there is
still no planting of hops in the north, though a great consumption,
and the consumption increasing daily, this, says my friend, is one
reason why at Stourbridge fair there is so great a demand for the
hops. He added, that besides this, there were very few hops, if
any worth naming, growing in all the counties even on this side
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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 Brother of Daphne by Dornford Yates: Besides- "
"Besides what?"
"Well, booth, I'm awfully curious."
"What do you want to know?"
"You're very good."
"I didn't say I'd tell you."
"I'll risk that. In a word, why are you?"
"Ah!"
I waited in silence for a few moments. At length:
"Suppose," she said slowly, "suppose a bet had been made."
"A bet?"
The Brother of Daphne |
