| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy: 'Anybody would think he was in love with that horrid mason instead
of with----'
The sentence remained unspoken, though not unthought.
She returned to the porch.
'Is the man you sent for a lazy, sit-still, do-nothing kind of
man?' she inquired of her father.
'No,' he said surprised; 'quite the reverse. He is Lord
Luxellian's master-mason, John Smith.'
'Oh,' said Elfride indifferently, and returned towards her bleak
station, and waited and shivered again. It was a trifle, after
all--a childish thing--looking out from a tower and waving a
A Pair of Blue Eyes |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from First Inaugural Address by Abraham Lincoln: It follows from these views that no State upon its own mere motion
can lawfully get out of the Union; that Resolves and Ordinances
to that effect are legally void; and that acts of violence,
within any State or States, against the authority of the United States,
are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances.
I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and the laws,
the Union is unbroken; and to the extent of my ability I shall take care,
as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the
laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States.
Doing this I deem to be only a simple duty on my part;
and I shall perform it so far as practicable, unless my
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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 Cavalry General by Xenophon: able to ride with freedom over every sort of ground, since any
description of country may become the seat of war. When, presently,
your men have got firm seats, your aim should be to make as many
members of the corps as possible not only skilled to hurl the javelin
from horseback with precision, but to perform all other feats expected
of the expert horseman. Next comes the need to arm both horse and man
in such a manner as to minimise the risk of wounds, and yet to
increase the force of every blow delivered.[7] This attended to, you
must contrive to make your men amenable to discipline, without which
neither good horses, nor a firm seat, nor splendour of equipment will
be of any use at 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 The Complete Angler by Izaak Walton: spawn is excellent meat, and that the head of a large Cheven, the throat
being well washed, is the best part of him, I will say no more of this
fish at the present, but wish you may catch the next you fish for.
But, lest you may judge me too nice in urging to have the Chub dressed
so presently after he is taken, I will commend to your consideration
how curious former times have been in the like kind.
You shall read in Seneca, his Natural Questions, that the ancients were
so curious in the newness of their fish, that that semed not new enough
that was not put alive into the guest's hand; and he says, that to that end
they did usually keep them living in glass bottles in their dining-rooms,
and they did glory much in their entertaining of friends, to have that
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