| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Black Dwarf by Walter Scott: from the dell to join his comrade.
It was the universal opinion of those most experienced in such
matters, that if the shooter had accompanied the spirit, he
would, notwithstanding the dwarf's fair pretences, have been
either torn to pieces, or immured for years in the recesses of
some fairy hill.
Such is the last and most authentic account of the apparition of
the Black Dwarf.]
CHAPTER II.
Will none but Hearne the Hunter serve your turn?
MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift: had a cock near the bottom to let out the water, when it began to
grow stale; and two servants could easily fill it in half an
hour. Here I often used to row for my own diversion, as well as
that of the queen and her ladies, who thought themselves well
entertained with my skill and agility. Sometimes I would put up
my sail, and then my business was only to steer, while the ladies
gave me a gale with their fans; and, when they were weary, some
of their pages would blow my sail forward with their breath,
while I showed my art by steering starboard or larboard as I
pleased. When I had done, Glumdalclitch always carried back my
boat into her closet, and hung it on a nail to dry.
Gulliver's Travels |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: Avarice is a uniform and tractable vice: other intellectual
distempers are different in different constitutions of mind; that
which soothes the pride of one will offend the pride of another;
but to the favour of the covetous there is a ready way - bring
money, and nothing is denied.
"At last we came to the dwelling of our chief; a strong and
spacious house, built with stone in an island of the Nile, which
lies, as I was told, under the tropic. 'Lady,' said the Arab, 'you
shall rest after your journey a few weeks in this place, where you
are to consider yourself as Sovereign. My occupation is war: I
have therefore chosen this obscure residence, from which I can
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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 Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, etc. by Oscar Wilde: absurd to imagine that any publisher of the time, and the preface
is from the publisher's hand, would have ventured to address
William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, as Mr. W. H.; the case of Lord
Buckhurst being spoken of as Mr. Sackville being not really a
parallel instance, as Lord Buckhurst was not a peer, but merely the
younger son of a peer, with a courtesy title, and the passage in
ENGLAND'S PARNASSUS, where he is so spoken of, is not a formal and
stately dedication, but simply a casual allusion. So far for Lord
Pembroke, whose supposed claims Cyril easily demolished while I sat
by in wonder. With Lord Southampton Cyril had even less
difficulty. Southampton became at a very early age the lover of
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