| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy: replied, looking at the woman, who was by no means ill-favoured.
"True," said a smoking gentleman, whose coat had the fine
polish about the collar, elbows, seams, and shoulder-blades
that long-continued friction with grimy surfaces will
produce, and which is usually more desired on furniture than
on clothes. From his appearance he had possibly been in
former time groom or coachman to some neighbouring county
family. "I've had my breedings in as good circles, I may
say, as any man," he added, "and I know true cultivation, or
nobody do; and I can declare she's got it--in the bone, mind
ye, I say--as much as any female in the fair--though it may
The Mayor of Casterbridge |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Wrong Box by Stevenson & Osbourne: 'The business that brings me here,' resumed the Australian with
gusto, 'is devilish delicate, I can tell you. My friend Mr
Thomas, being an American of Portuguese extraction, unacquainted
with our habits, and a wealthy manufacturer of Broadwood
pianos--'
'Broadwood pianos?' cried Gideon, with some surprise. 'Dear me,
do I understand Mr Thomas to be a member of the firm?'
'O, pirated Broadwoods,' returned Michael. 'My friend's the
American Broadwood.'
'But I understood you to say,' objected Gideon, 'I certainly have
it so in my notes--that your friend was a manufacturer of
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare: to any Gentlewoman, and very weake dealing
Nur. Nurse commend me to thy Lady and Mistresse, I
protest vnto thee
Nur. Good heart, and yfaith I will tell her as much:
Lord, Lord she will be a ioyfull woman
Rom. What wilt thou tell her Nurse? thou doest not
marke me?
Nur. I will tell her sir, that you do protest, which as I
take it, is a Gentleman-like offer
Rom. Bid her deuise some meanes to come to shrift this
afternoone,
Romeo and Juliet |
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 Anabasis by Xenophon: Regius Professor of Greek in the University of Oxford
Xenophon the Athenian was born 431 B.C. He was a
pupil of Socrates. He marched with the Spartans,
and was exiled from Athens. Sparta gave him land
and property in Scillus, where he lived for many
years before having to move once more, to settle
in Corinth. He died in 354 B.C.
The Anabasis is his story of the march to Persia
to aid Cyrus, who enlisted Greek help to try and
take the throne from Artaxerxes, and the ensuing
return of the Greeks, in which Xenophon played a
Anabasis |
