| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker: be pleased with your visit this time.
"Yours sincerely,
"ARABELLA MARCH."
At half-past three next day, Edgar Caswall called at Diana's Grove.
Lady Arabella met him on the roadway outside the gate. She wished
to take the servants into her confidence as little as possible. She
turned when she saw him coming, and walked beside him towards Mercy
Farm, keeping step with him as they walked. When they got near
Mercy, she turned and looked around her, expecting to see Oolanga or
some sign of him. He was, however, not visible. He had received
from his master peremptory orders to keep out of sight--an order for
Lair of the White Worm |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James: "I remember the night, and almost the very spot on the hill-top,
where my soul opened out, as it were, into the Infinite, and
there was a rushing together of the two worlds, the inner and the
outer. It was deep calling unto deep--the deep that my own
struggle had opened up within being answered by the unfathomable
deep without, reaching beyond the stars. I stood alone with Him
who had made me, and all the beauty of the world, and love, and
sorrow, and even temptation. I did not seek Him, but felt the
perfect unison of my spirit with His. The ordinary sense of
things around me faded. For the moment nothing but an ineffable
joy and exultation remained. It is impossible fully to describe
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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 Dreams & Dust by Don Marquis: And you are nothing more than bisque
And lacquer--
But you shame us with the graces
Of courtlier times and places
When the cheap
And vulgar wasn't "art"--
When the faunal prance and leap
Weren't "smart."
Have we lost the trick of wedding
Grace to pleasure?
Must we clown it at the bidding
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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 On Revenues by Xenophon: likely that there were fewer at any time during the classical
period."--"A Companion to School Classics" (James Gow), p. 101,
xiii. "Population of Attica."
With regard to the price then of the men themselves, it is obvious
that the public treasury is in a better position to provide funds than
any private individuals. What can be easier than for the Council[18]
to invite by public proclamation all whom it may concern to bring
their slaves, and to buy up those produced? Assuming the purchase to
be effected, is it credible that people will hesitate to hire from the
state rather than from the private owner, and actually on the same
terms? People have at all events no hesitation at present in hiring
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