| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from On Revenues by Xenophon: centre of those masses of land which make up the earth surface of
the globe, and is thus more than any city of the world the natural
point of convergence for its different lines of navigation," etc.
The natural advantages of Boeotia are similarly set forth by
Ephorus. Cf. Strab. ix. 2, p. 400.
Once more, this land though not literally sea-girt has all the
advantages of an island, being accessible to every wind that blows,
and can invite to its bosom or waft from its shore all products, since
it is peninsular; whilst by land it is the emporium of many markets,
as being a portion of the continent.
Lastly, while the majority of states have barbarian neighbours, the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Cousin Betty by Honore de Balzac: privately guide. My word, I pity nations!
"But the matter in question is how you can be helped, and not to laugh
at the world.--Well, madame, be easy, go home again, and do not worry.
I will bring your Hector back to you as he was as a man of thirty."
"Ah, mademoiselle, let us go to see that Madame Grenouville," said the
Baroness. "She surely knows something! Perhaps I may see the Baron
this very day, and be able to snatch him at once from poverty and
disgrace."
"Madame, I will show you the deep gratitude I feel towards you by not
displaying the stage-singer Josepha, the Duc d'Herouville's mistress,
in the company of the noblest, saintliest image of virtue. I respect
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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 Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: Yet he must go and tell the Rajah--tell of the event; of the
change in his plans; of all his suspicions. He walked to the
jetty and began casting off the rattan painter of his canoe.
The broad expanse of the lower reach, with its shimmering surface
dotted by the black specks of the fishing canoes, lay before his
eyes. The fishermen seemed to be racing. Babalatchi paused in
his work, and looked on with sudden interest. The man in the
foremost canoe, now within hail of the first houses of Sambir,
laid in his paddle and stood up shouting--
"The boats! the boats! The man-of-war's boats are coming! They
are here!"
Almayer's Folly |
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 De Profundis by Oscar Wilde: ending, what an appalling ending!' now I try to say to myself, and
sometimes when I am not torturing myself do really and sincerely
say, 'What a beginning, what a wonderful beginning!' It may really
be so. It may become so. If it does I shall owe much to this new
personality that has altered every man's life in this place.
You may realise it when I say that had I been released last May, as
I tried to be, I would have left this place loathing it and every
official in it with a bitterness of hatred that would have poisoned
my life. I have had a year longer of imprisonment, but humanity
has been in the prison along with us all, and now when I go out I
shall always remember great kindnesses that I have received here
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