| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from St. Ives by Robert Louis Stevenson: one of which they were quite ignorant - that I was a fugitive. It
is the worst feature of that false position that every gratuity
becomes a case of conscience. You must not leave behind you any
one discontented nor any one grateful. But the whole business had
been such a 'hurrah-boys' from the beginning, and had gone off in
the fifth act so like a melodrama, in explosions, reconciliations,
and the rape of a post-horse, that it was plainly impossible to
keep it covered. It was plain it would have to be talked over in
all the inn-kitchens for thirty miles about, and likely for six
months to come. It only remained for me, therefore, to settle on
that gratuity which should be least conspicuous - so large that
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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 Jolly Corner by Henry James: the odd echo, the conscious human resonance (he scarce knew how to
qualify it) that sounds made while he was there alone sent back to
his ear or his fancy; and that, in the second, he imagined Alice
Staverton for the instant on the point of asking him, with a
divination, if he ever so prowled. There were divinations he was
unprepared for, and he had at all events averted enquiry by the
time Mrs. Muldoon had left them, passing on to other parts.
There was happily enough to say, on so consecrated a spot, that
could be said freely and fairly; so that a whole train of
declarations was precipitated by his friend's having herself broken
out, after a yearning look round: "But I hope you don't mean they
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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 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: by a lane from Rosings Park, her ladyship's residence."
"I think you said she was a widow, sir? Has she any family?"
"She has only one daughter, the heiress of Rosings, and of very
extensive property."
"Ah!" said Mrs. Bennet, shaking her head, "then she is better off
than many girls. And what sort of young lady is she? Is she
handsome?"
"She is a most charming young lady indeed. Lady Catherine
herself says that, in point of true beauty, Miss de Bourgh is far
superior to the handsomest of her sex, because there is that in
her features which marks the young lady of distinguished birth.
Pride and Prejudice |
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 Exiles by Honore de Balzac: shade. Here, in a dark corner, eyes shone brightly, their dark heads
under the sunbeams gleamed light above faces in shadow, and various
bald heads, with only a circlet of white hair, were distinguished
among the crowd like battlements silvered by moonlight. Every face was
turned towards the Doctor, mute but impatient. The drowsy voices of
other lecturers in the adjoining schools were audible in the silent
street like the murmuring of the sea; and the steps of the two
strangers, as they now came in, attracted general attention. Doctor
Sigier, ready to begin, saw the stately senior standing, looked round
for a seat for him, and then finding none, as the place was full, came
down from his place, went to the newcomer, and with great respect, led
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