| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad: the matter; for you need imagination to form a
notion of beauty at all, and still more to discover
your ideal in an unfamiliar shape.
"How this aptitude came to her, what it did
feed upon, is an inscrutable mystery. She was
born in the village, and had never been further
away from it than Colebrook or perhaps Darnford.
She lived for four years with the Smiths. New
Barns is an isolated farmhouse a mile away from
the road, and she was content to look day after
day at the same fields, hollows, rises; at the trees
Amy Foster |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe: that I came to steal, and he must prove it, and I desired we
might go before a magistrate without any more words; for I
began to see I should be too hard for the man that had seized me.
The master and mistress of the shop were really not so violent
as the man from t'other side of the way; and the man said,
'Mistress, you might come into the shop with a good design
for aught I know, but it seemed a dangerous thing for you to
come into such a shop as mine is, when you see nobody there;
and I cannot do justice to my neighbour, who was so kind to
me, as not to acknowledge he had reason on his side; though,
upon the whole, I do not find you attempted to take anything,
Moll Flanders |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin by Robert Louis Stevenson: one has anything to do. Some instruments for testing have stuck at
Lyons, some at Cagliari; and nothing can be done - or at any rate,
is done. I wander about, thinking of you and staring at big, green
grasshoppers - locusts, some people call them - and smelling the
rich brushwood. There was nothing for a pencil to sketch, and I
soon got tired of this work, though I have paid willingly much
money for far less strange and lovely sights.
'Off Cape Spartivento: June 8.
'At two this morning, we left Cagliari; at five cast anchor here.
I got up and began preparing for the final trial; and shortly
afterwards everyone else of note on board went ashore to make
|
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 Red Seal by Natalie Sumner Lincoln: "Keep me informed of your progress," McIntyre's manner was
domineering and Kent felt the blood mount to his temples, but he
was determined not to lose his temper whatever the provocation;
McIntyre was Barbara's father.
Clymer, aware that the atmosphere was getting strained,
diplomatically intervened.
"Dine with me to-night, Kent," he said. "Perhaps you will then
have some news that will throw light on the present whereabouts of
the securities. I found, on making inquiries, that they have not
been offered for sale in the usual channels. Come, McIntyre, I
have a directors' meeting in twenty minutes."
The Red Seal |
