| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Daisy Miller by Henry James: He could have believed he was going to elope with her.
He passed out with her among all the idle people that were
assembled there; they were all looking at her very hard;
she had begun to chatter as soon as she joined him.
Winterbourne's preference had been that they should be
conveyed to Chillon in a carriage; but she expressed a lively
wish to go in the little steamer; she declared that she had
a passion for steamboats. There was always such a lovely
breeze upon the water, and you saw such lots of people.
The sail was not long, but Winterbourne's companion found time
to say a great many things. To the young man himself their
|
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 Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift: importuning every passenger for an alms. These mothers instead of
being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to
employ all their time in stroling to beg sustenance for their
helpless infants who, as they grow up, either turn thieves for
want of work, or leave their dear native country, to fight for
the Pretender in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes.
I think it is agreed by all parties, that this prodigious number
of children in the arms, or on the backs, or at the heels of
their mothers, and frequently of their fathers, is in the present
deplorable state of the kingdom, a very great additional
grievance; and therefore whoever could find out a fair, cheap and
 A Modest Proposal |