| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Pupil by Henry James: anxiety, among the dangers of an untried experiment. He reflected,
however, that these were risks one had to run when one accepted a
position, as it was called, in a private family; when as yet one's
university honours had, pecuniarily speaking, remained barren. At
any rate when Mrs. Moreen got up as to intimate that, since it was
understood he would enter upon his duties within the week she would
let him off now, he succeeded, in spite of the presence of the
child, in squeezing out a phrase about the rate of payment. It was
not the fault of the conscious smile which seemed a reference to
the lady's expensive identity, it was not the fault of this
demonstration, which had, in a sort, both vagueness and point, if
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: overcomes these problems by any exercise of thought. They are
not to be solved, or only in one way. If her heart chance to
come uppermost, they vanish. Thus Hester Prynne, whose heart had
lost its regular and healthy throb, wandered without a clue in
the dark labyrinth of mind; now turned aside by an insurmountable
precipice; now starting back from a deep chasm. There was wild
and ghastly scenery all around her, and a home and comfort
nowhere. At times a fearful doubt strove to possess her soul,
whether it were not better to send Pearl at once to Heaven, and
go herself to such futurity as Eternal Justice should provide.
The Scarlet Letter |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy: glanced quickly towards the door every time a new-comer appeared.
He stood somewhat isolated: the envoy of the Revolutionary
Government of France was not likely to be very popular in England, at
a time when the news of the awful September massacres, and of the
Reign of Terror and Anarchy, had just begun to filtrate across the
Channel.
In his official capacity he had been received courteously by
his English colleagues: Mr. Pitt had shaken him by the hand; Lord
Grenville had entertained him more than once; but the more intimate
circles of London society ignored him altogether; the women openly
turned their backs upon him; the men who held no official position
The Scarlet Pimpernel |
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 Men of Iron by Howard Pyle: thou?" said he, abruptly.
"I be turned seventeen last April," Myles answered, as he had the
evening before to Lord Mackworth.
"Humph!" said Sir James; "thou be'st big of bone and frame for
thine age. I would that thy heart were more that of a man
likewise, and less that of a giddy, hare-brained boy, thinking
continually of naught but mischief."
Again he fell silent, and Myles sat quite still, wondering if it
was on account of any special one of his latest escapades that he
had been summoned to the office--the breaking of the window in
the Long Hall by the stone he had flung at the rook, or the
Men of Iron |
