| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: blessings; it was here they died, and yonder, by yon ruined
chapel, they lie all buried. I had no ocuntry but theirs while
they lived; I have none but theirs now they are no more."
"But your house," said the Lord Keeper, looking at it, "is
miserably ruinous?"
"Do, my dear father," said Lucy, eagerly, yet bashfully,
catching at the hint, "give orders to make it better; that is, if
you think it proper."
"It will last my time, my dear Miss Lucy," said the blind woman;
"I would not have my lord give himself the least trouble about
it."
The Bride of Lammermoor |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain: considering the brunet one's treatment of me that night.
Prejudice or no prejudice, Pudd'nhead, I don't like them,
and when they get their deserts you're not going to find me sitting
on the mourner's bench."
He took up another strip of glass, and exclaimed:
"Why, here's old Roxy's label! Are you going to ornament
the royal palaces with nigger paw marks, too? By the date here,
I was seven months old when this was done, and she was nursing me
and her little nigger cub. There's a line straight across her thumbprint.
How comes that?" and Tom held out the piece of glass to Wilson.
"That is common," said the bored man, wearily.
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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 Wrecker by Stevenson & Osbourne: "Perhaps he never knew her value until then," I suggested.
"I wish we knew her value now," exclaimed Nares. "However,
I don't want to depress you; I'm sorry for you, Mr. Dodd; I
know how bothering it must be to you; and the best I can say's
this: I haven't taken much time getting down, and now I'm
here I mean to work this thing in proper style. I just want to
put your mind at rest: you shall have no trouble with me."
There was something trusty and friendly in his voice; and I
found myself gripping hands with him, in that hard, short
shake that means so much with English-speaking people.
"We'll do, old fellow," said he. "We've shaken down into pretty
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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 Middlemarch by George Eliot: Caleb had advised him not to trust to a mere bailiff, but to let
the land, stock, and implements yearly, and take a proportionate
share of the proceeds.
"May I trust to you to find me a tenant on these terms, Mr. Garth?"
said Bulstrode. "And will you mention to me the yearly sum
which would repay you for managing these affairs which we have
discussed together?"
"I'll think about it," said Caleb, in his blunt way. "I'll see
how I can make it out."
If it had not been that he had to consider Fred Vincy's future,
Mr. Garth would not probably have been glad of any addition to his work,
Middlemarch |
