| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas: demon. Happily for him he has ceased to bear that name."
"And therefore," said D'Artagnan, resolved to be patient to
the end, "it is not Aramis I seek, but the Abbe d'Herblay.
Come, my dear Bazin, tell me where he is."
"Didn't you hear me tell you, Monsieur d'Artagnan, that I
don't know where he is?"
"Yes, certainly; but to that I answer that it is
impossible."
"It is, nevertheless, the truth, monsieur -- the pure truth,
the truth of the good God."
D'Artagnan saw clearly that he would get nothing out of this
Twenty Years After |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Danny's Own Story by Don Marquis: as she said it enough so you could feel how furious
Miss Lucy could get. She was like her brother
Tom in some ways.
"I ordered him out of the house. His answer to
that was an offer to marry me. You can imagine
that I was surprised as well as angry--I was
perplexed.
"'But I AM married!' I cried. The idea that any
of my own people, or any one whom I had known at
home, would think I wasn't married was too much
for me to take in all at once.
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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 Tapestried Chamber by Walter Scott: something about indispensable business, and insisted on the
absolute necessity of his departure in a manner which silenced
all opposition on the part of his host, who saw that his
resolution was taken, and forbore all further importunity.
"At least, however," he said, "permit me, my dear Browne, since
go you will or must, to show you the view from the terrace, which
the mist, that is now rising, will soon display."
He threw open a sash-window, and stepped down upon the terrace as
he spoke. The General followed him mechanically, but seemed
little to attend to what his host was saying, as, looking across
an extended and rich prospect, he pointed out the different
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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 Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring by George Bernard Shaw: should have perished of despair in my youth but for the world
created for me by that great German dynasty which began with Bach
and will perhaps not end with Richard Strauss. Do not suppose for
a moment that I learnt my art from English men of letters. True,
they showed me how to handle English words; but if I had known no
more than that, my works would never have crossed the Channel. My
masters were the masters of a universal language: they were, to
go from summit to summit, Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven
and Wagner. Had the Germans understood any of these men, they
would have hanged them. Fortunately they did not understand them,
and therefore only neglected them until they were dead, after
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