| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The New Machiavelli by H. G. Wells: others. There were one or two university dons, Lord George Fester,
the racing man, Panmure, the artist, two or three big City men,
Weston Massinghay and another prominent Liberal whose name I can't
remember, the three men Tarvrille had promised and Esmeer, Lord
Wrassleton, Waulsort, the member for Monckton, Neal and several
others. We began a little coldly, with duologues, but the
conversation was already becoming general--so far as such a long
table permitted--when the fire asserted itself.
It asserted itself first as a penetrating and emphatic smell of
burning rubber,--it was caused by the fusing of an electric wire.
The reek forced its way into the discussion of the Pekin massacres
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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 Odyssey by Homer: on that day when the Cyclops, unrestrained in fury,
devoured the mighty men of my company; but still thou didst
endure till thy craft found a way for thee forth from out
the cave, where thou thoughtest to die.'
So spake he, chiding his own spirit within him, and his
heart verily abode steadfast in obedience to his word. But
Odysseus himself lay tossing this way and that. And as when
a man by a great fire burning takes a paunch full of fat
and blood, and turns it this way and that and longs to have
it roasted most speedily, so Odysseus tossed from side to
side, musing how he might stretch forth his hands upon the
The Odyssey |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: alarmed at Rodolphe's stillness, went close to him, she found that he
had fainted.
"/Povero/!" she said to herself. "And I thought him cold."
She fetched him some salts, and revived Rodolphe by making him smell
at them.
"Married!" said Rodolphe, looking at Francesca. And then his tears
flowed freely.
"Child!" said she. "But there is still hope. My husband is--"
"Eighty?" Rodolphe put in.
"No," said she with a smile, "but sixty-five. He has disguised himself
as much older to mislead the police."
Albert Savarus |
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 A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay: blue, loosely flowing robe, and wore a broad-brimmed slouch hat. His
face, which was not disfigured by any special organs, was pale,
earnest, and grave, yet somehow remarkably pleasing.
Before a word was spoken, he warmly grasped Maskull's hand, but even
while he was in the act of doing so he threw a queer frown at Krag.
The latter responded with a scowling grin.
When he opened his mouth to speak, his voice was a vibrating
baritone, but it was at the same time strangely womanish in its
modulations and variety of tone.
"I've been waiting for you here since sunrise," he said. "Welcome to
Barey, Maskull! Let's hope you'll forget your sorrows here, you
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