| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: had not the easy gaiety of Miss Thorpe's manners,
and her frequent expressions of delight on this
acquaintance with her, softened down every feeling of awe,
and left nothing but tender affection. Their increasing
attachment was not to be satisfied with half a dozen
turns in the pump-room, but required, when they all
quitted it together, that Miss Thorpe should accompany
Miss Morland to the very door of Mr. Allen's house;
and that they should there part with a most affectionate
and lengthened shake of hands, after learning, to their
mutual relief, that they should see each other across the
Northanger Abbey |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe: than a lunatic; prompted by his vicious, corrupted head, he no
more knows what he is doing than this wretch of mine knew
when I picked his pocket of his watch and his purse of gold.
These are the men of whom Solomon says, 'They go like an
ox to the slaughter, till a dart strikes through their liver'; an
admirable description, by the way, of the foul disease, which
is a poisonous deadly contagion mingling with the blood,
whose centre or foundation is in the liver; from whence, by
the swift circulation of the whole mass, that dreadful nauseous
plague strikes immediately through his liver, and his spirits are
infected, his vitals stabbed through as with a dart.
Moll Flanders |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Hamlet by William Shakespeare: Marke the encounter: If he loue her not,
And be not from his reason falne thereon;
Let me be no Assistant for a State,
And keepe a Farme and Carters
King. We will try it.
Enter Hamlet reading on a Booke.
Qu. But looke where sadly the poore wretch
Comes reading
Pol. Away I do beseech you, both away,
Ile boord him presently.
Exit King & Queen.
Hamlet |
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 Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas Wentworth Higginson: Cacilia Metella. But its stately position makes it rank with
the vast sisterhood of wave-washed strongholds; it might be
King Arthur's Cornish Tyntagel; it might be "the teocallis
tower" of Tuloom. As you gaze down from its height, all things
that float upon the ocean seem equalized. Look at the crowded
life on yonder frigate, coming in full-sailed before the steady
sea-breeze. To furl that heavy canvas, a hundred men cluster
like bees upon the yards, yet to us upon this height it is all
but a plaything for the eyes, and we turn with equal interest
from that thronged floating citadel to some lonely boy in his
skiff.
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