| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tono Bungay by H. G. Wells: this idea.
"Ewart," I said, "this is like Doll's Island.
"Suppose," I reflected, "an unsuccessful man laid siege to a
balcony and wouldn't let his rival come near it?"
"Move him on," said Ewart, "by a special regulation. As one does
organ-grinders. No difficulty about that. And you could forbid
it--make it against the etiquette. No life is decent without
etiquette.... And people obey etiquette sooner than laws..."
"H'm," I said, and was struck by an idea that is remote in the
world of a young man. "How about children?" I asked; "in the
City? Girls are all very well. But boys, for example--grow up."
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Walden by Henry David Thoreau: me nothing of which I have not rendered an account -- consisted of a
bed, a table, a desk, three chairs, a looking-glass three inches in
diameter, a pair of tongs and andirons, a kettle, a skillet, and a
frying-pan, a dipper, a wash-bowl, two knives and forks, three
plates, one cup, one spoon, a jug for oil, a jug for molasses, and a
japanned lamp. None is so poor that he need sit on a pumpkin. That
is shiftlessness. There is a plenty of such chairs as I like best
in the village garrets to be had for taking them away. Furniture!
Thank God, I can sit and I can stand without the aid of a furniture
warehouse. What man but a philosopher would not be ashamed to see
his furniture packed in a cart and going up country exposed to the
Walden |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Red Seal by Natalie Sumner Lincoln: smiled at his excited partner. "If you two hadn't been so absorbed
in your conversation you would have heard me walk in," he remarked.
"Where have you been?" demanded Kent, partly recovering from his
astonishment which had deprived him of speech.
"I decided to take a vacation at a moment's notice." Rochester spoke
with the same slow drawl which was characteristic of him. "You
should be accustomed to my eccentricities by this time, Harry."
"We are," announced Detective Ferguson from the hallway, where he
and Nelson had been silent witnesses of the scene. "And we'll give
you a chance to explain them in the police court."
"On what charge?" demanded Rochester.
The Red Seal |
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 A Voyage to Abyssinia by Father Lobo: were welcomed by great numbers of Catholics, both Portuguese and
Abyssins, who spared no endeavours to make us forget all we had
suffered in so hazardous a journey, undertaken with no other
intention than to conduct them in the way of salvation.
PART II - A DESCRIPTION OF ABYSSINIA
Chapter I
The history of Abyssinia. An account of the Queen of Sheba, and of
Queen Candace. The conversion of the Abyssins.
The original of the Abyssins, like that of all other nations, is
obscure and uncertain. The tradition generally received derives
them from Cham, the son of Noah, and they pretend, however
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