| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas: the direction of the prelate, from whom no detail escaped.
D'Artagnan appeared as well satisfied as possible with the
explanation. He entered upon a part of dissimulation which
agreed perfectly with the suspicions that arose more and
more strongly in his mind. He breakfasted between the Jesuit
and Aramis, having the Dominican in front of him, and
smiling particularly at the Dominican, whose jolly, fat face
pleased him much. The repast was long and sumptuous;
excellent Spanish wine, fine Morbihan oysters, exquisite
fish from the mouth of the Loire, enormous prawns from
Paimboeuf, and delicious game from the moors, constituted
Ten Years Later |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Verses 1889-1896 by Rudyard Kipling: For my son 'e was never a credit: 'e muddled with books and art,
And 'e lived on Sir Anthony's money and 'e broke Sir Anthony's heart.
There isn't even a grandchild, and the Gloster family's done --
The only one you left me, O mother, the only one!
Harrer and Trinity College -- me slavin' early an' late --
An' he thinks I'm dying crazy, and you're in Macassar Strait!
Flesh o' my flesh, my dearie, for ever an' ever amen,
That first stroke come for a warning; I ought to ha' gone to you then,
But -- cheap repairs for a cheap 'un -- the doctors said I'd do:
Mary, why didn't ~you~ warn me? I've allus heeded to you,
Excep' -- I know -- about women; but you are a spirit now;
Verses 1889-1896 |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Fables by Robert Louis Stevenson: ancient ages; and I have neither a better reason nor a worse."
Now the Earl's daughter could not find it in her mind to believe
him. "Come," quoth she, "sell me this, for I am sure it is a thing
of price."
"Nay," said the man, "the thing is not for sale."
"What!" cried the Earl's daughter. "Then what make you here in the
town's market, with the thing in your creel and nought beside?"
"I sit here," says the man, "to get me a wife."
"There is no sense in any of these answers," thought the Earl's
daughter; "and I could find it in my heart to weep."
By came the Earl upon that; and she called him and told him all.
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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 Faraday as a Discoverer by John Tyndall: formed a resolution, in his cool ones he made that resolution good.
Thus his fire was that of a solid combustible, not that of a gas,
which blazes suddenly, and dies as suddenly away.
And here I must claim your tolerance for the limits by which I am
confined. No materials for a life of Faraday are in my hands, and
what I have now to say has arisen almost wholly out of our close
personal relationship.
Letters of his, covering a period of sixteen years, are before me,
each one of which contains some characteristic utterance;--strong,
yet delicate in counsel, joyful in encouragement, and warm in
affection. References which would be pleasant to such of them as
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