| 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: playing with aeronautics long enough; that next morning I would
go to him and have things clear between us.
I caught an early train and went up to the Hardingham.
I went up to the Hardingham through a dense London fog to see how
things really stood. Before I had talked to my uncle for ten
minutes I felt like a man who has just awakened in a bleak,
inhospitable room out of a grandiose dream.
CHAPTER THE FOURTH
HOW I STOLE THE HEAPS OF QUAP FROM MORDET ISLAND
I
"We got to make a fight for it," said my uncle. "We got to face
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians by Martin Luther: unyielding as the Holy Spirit is in the matter of maintaining and defending
the doctrine of faith, so mild and merciful is He toward men for their sins
as long as sinners repent.
The Pope's synagogue teaches the exact opposite of what the Apostle commands.
The clerics are tyrants and butchers of men's conscience. Every small offense
is closely scrutinized. To justify the cruel inquisitiveness they quote the
statement of Pope Gregory: "It is the property of good lives to be afraid of
a fault where there is no fault." "Our censors must be feared, even if they
are unjust and wrong." On these pronouncements the papists base their
doctrine of excommunication. Rather than terrify and condemn men's
consciences, they ought to raise them up and comfort them with the truth.
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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 Madame Firmiani by Honore de Balzac: money?" cried his uncle.
"Don't laugh at her, uncle; her position has obliged her to be very
careful. Her husband went to Greece in 1820 and died there three years
later. It has been impossible, up to the present time, to get legal
proofs of his death, or obtain the will which he made leaving his
whole property to his wife. These papers were either lost or stolen,
or have gone astray during the troubles in Greece,--a country where
registers are not kept as they are in France, and where we have no
consul. Uncertain whether she might not be forced to give up her
fortune, she has lived with the utmost prudence. As for me, I wish to
acquire property which shall be MINE, so as to provide for my wife in
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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 Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson: prematurely white, and a boisterous and decided manner. At sight
of Mr. Utterson, he sprang up from his chair and welcomed him with
both hands. The geniality, as was the way of the man, was
somewhat theatrical to the eye; but it reposed on genuine feeling.
For these two were old friends, old mates both at school and
college, both thorough respectors of themselves and of each other,
and what does not always follow, men who thoroughly enjoyed each
other's company.
After a little rambling talk, the lawyer led up to the subject
which so disagreeably preoccupied his mind.
"I suppose, Lanyon," said he, "you and I must be the two
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde |
