| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker: you first to see a remarkable relic of Mercia, and then we'll go to
Liverpool through what is called 'The Great Vale of Cheshire.' You
may be disappointed, but take care not to prepare your mind"--this
to Adam--"for anything stupendous or heroic. You would not think
the place a vale at all, unless you were told so beforehand, and had
confidence in the veracity of the teller. We should get to the
Landing Stage in time to meet the WEST AFRICAN, and catch Mr.
Caswall as he comes ashore. We want to do him honour--and, besides,
it will be more pleasant to have the introductions over before we go
to his FETE at the Castle."
The carriage was ready, the same as had been used the previous day,
Lair of the White Worm |
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 Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: -with so many family prejudices--and ten decades of such tales running on
for ever along with them--how was it possible with such exquisite--was it a
true nose?--That a man with such exquisite feelings as my father had, could
bear the shock at all below stairs--or indeed above stairs, in any other
posture, but the very posture I have described?
--Throw yourself down upon the bed, a dozen times--taking care only to
place a looking-glass first in a chair on one side of it, before you do it-
-But was the stranger's nose a true nose, or was it a false one?
To tell that before-hand, madam, would be to do injury to one of the best
tales in the Christian-world; and that is the tenth of the tenth decade,
which immediately follows this.
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