| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Duchess of Padua by Oscar Wilde: LORD JUSTICE
The law, my liege.
DUCHESS
We are not bound by law,
But with it we bind others.
MORANZONE
My Lord Justice,
Thou wilt not suffer this injustice here.
LORD JUSTICE
The Court needs not thy voice, Lord Moranzone.
Madam, it were a precedent most evil
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Golden Threshold by Sarojini Naidu: I have some very beautiful poems floating in the air," she wrote
to me in 1904; "and if the gods are kind I shall cast my soul
like a net and capture them, this year. If the gods are
kind--and grant me a little measure of health. It is all I need
to make my life perfect, for the very 'Spirit of Delight' that
Shelley wrote of dwells in my little home; it is full of the
music of birds in the garden and children in the long arched
verandah." There are songs about the children in this book; they
are called the Lord of Battles, the Sun of Victory, the
Lotus-born, and the Jewel of Delight.
"My ancestors for thousands of years," I find written in one of
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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 Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: such an ancient garb, could only belong to some old champion of
the righteous cause, whom the oppressor's drum had summoned from
his grave. They raised a shout of awe and exultation, and looked
for the deliverance of New England.
The Governor, and the gentlemen of his party, perceiving
themselves brought to an unexpected stand, rode hastily forward,
as if they would have pressed their snorting and affrighted
horses right against the hoary apparition. He, however, blenched
not a step, but glancing his severe eye round the group, which
half encompassed him, at last bent it sternly on Sir Edmund
Andros. One would have thought that the dark old man was chief
Twice Told Tales |
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 Polly of the Circus by Margaret Mayo: "Oh, yes, I do," Douglas answered quickly. "I was ill a while
ago myself. I had to be in bed day after day, thinking of dozens
of things that I ought to be doing."
"Was you ever floored?" Polly asked with a touch of unbelief as
she studied the fine, healthy physique at the side of her bed.
" 'Deed he was, chile," Mandy cried, feeling that her opportunity
had now arrived; "an' I had the wors' time a-keepin' him in bed.
He act jes' like you did."
"Did he?" Polly was delighted to find that the pastor had
"nothin' on her," as she would have put it.
"You ought to have heard him," continued Mandy, made eloquent by
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