| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: chiefly availed was the marriage of his daughter with a man
of fortune and consequence, which took place in the course
of the summer--an accession of dignity that threw him
into a fit of good humour, from which he did not recover
till after Eleanor had obtained his forgiveness of Henry,
and his permission for him "to be a fool if he liked it!"
The marriage of Eleanor Tilney, her removal from
all the evils of such a home as Northanger had been
made by Henry's banishment, to the home of her choice
and the man of her choice, is an event which I expect
to give general satisfaction among all her acquaintance.
Northanger Abbey |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tour Through Eastern Counties of England by Daniel Defoe: they fared indifferent well, and were very civilly used, but that
provisions were scarce, and therefore dear.
This day a party of horse, with 300 foot, sallied out, and marched
as far as the fort on the Isle of Mersey, which they made a show of
attacking, to keep in the garrison. Meanwhile the rest took a good
number of cattle from the country, which they brought safe into the
town, with five waggons laden with corn. This was the last they
could bring in that way, the lines being soon finished on that
side.
This day the Lord Fairfax sent in a trumpet to the Earl of Norwich
and the Lord Goring, offering honourable conditions to them all,
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin: Hybrids and Mongrels compared, independently of their fertility. --
Independently of the question of fertility, the offspring of species when
crossed and of varieties when crossed may be compared in several other
respects. Gartner, whose strong wish was to draw a marked line of
distinction between species and varieties, could find very few and, as it
seems to me, quite unimportant differences between the so-called hybrid
offspring of species, and the so-called mongrel offspring of varieties.
And, on the other hand, they agree most closely in very many important
respects.
I shall here discuss this subject with extreme brevity. The most important
distinction is, that in the first generation mongrels are more variable
On the Origin of Species |
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 Ivanhoe by Walter Scott: ``Ha!'' answered the Baron, after a long pause,
``an thou knowest that, thou art indeed the author
of evil, and as omniscient as the monks call thee!
---That secret I deemed locked in my own breast,
and in that of one besides---the temptress, the partaker
of my guilt.---Go, leave me, fiend! and seek
the Saxon witch Ulrica, who alone could tell thee
what she and I alone witnessed.---Go, I say, to her,
who washed the wounds, and straighted the corpse,
and gave to the slain man the outward show of one
parted in time and in the course of nature---Go to
Ivanhoe |
