| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson by Robert Louis Stevenson: his Lordship. I have not yet received the transcripts. They must
be very interesting. Do you know, I picked up the other day an old
LONGMAN'S, where I found an article of yours that I had missed,
about Christie's? I read it with great delight. The year ends
with us pretty much as it began, among wars and rumours of wars,
and a vast and splendid exhibition of official incompetence. -
Yours ever,
R. L. STEVENSON.
Letter: TO EDMUND GOSSE
VAILIMA, SAMOA, DECEMBER 1, 1894.
I AM afraid, MY DEAR WEG, that this must be the result of bribery
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Coxon Fund by Henry James: "He isn't good enough!" I went on; to which she opposed a sound
almost as contentious as my own had been. This made me, with
genuine immediate horror, exclaim: "You haven't influenced her, I
hope!" and my emphasis brought back the blood with a rush to poor
Adelaide's face. She declared while she blushed--for I had
frightened her again--that she had never influenced anybody and
that the girl had only seen and heard and judged for herself. HE
had influenced her, if I would, as he did every one who had a soul:
that word, as we knew, even expressed feebly the power of the
things he said to haunt the mind. How could she, Adelaide, help it
if Miss Anvoy's mind was haunted? I demanded with a groan what
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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 The Iliad by Homer: round him from every quarter of the deep, while the sea in her
gladness opened a path before his chariot. So lightly did the
horses fly that the bronze axle of the car was not even wet
beneath it; and thus his bounding steeds took him to the ships of
the Achaeans.
Now there is a certain huge cavern in the depths of the sea
midway between Tenedos and rocky Imbrus; here Neptune lord of the
earthquake stayed his horses, unyoked them, and set before them
their ambrosial forage. He hobbled their feet with hobbles of
gold which none could either unloose or break, so that they might
stay there in that place until their lord should return. This
The Iliad |
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 Second Home by Honore de Balzac: Madame Bontems was tremulous with pride as she took the Comte de
Granville's arm, though he, forced to offer it in the presence of all
the world was vexed enough with his son for his ill-advised
impatience.
For about a fortnight, between the official announcement of the
intended marriage of the Vicomte de Granville to Mademoiselle Bontems
and the solemn day of the wedding, he came assiduously to visit his
lady-love in the dismal drawing-room, to which he became accustomed.
His long calls were devoted to watching Angelique's character; for his
prudence, happily, had made itself heard again in the day after their
first meeting. He always found her seated at a little table of some
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