| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Sylvie and Bruno by Lewis Carroll: there's no chance of getting him to consent to it!'"
"I can give you one other exception," I said: "an argument I heard only
to-day---and not by a lady. 'Why shouldn't I walk on my own forehead?'"
"What a curious subject for speculation!" said Lady Muriel, turning to me,
with eyes brimming over with laughter. "May we know who propounded
the question? And did he walk on his own forehead?"
"I ca'n't remember who it was that said it!" I faltered. "Nor where I
heard it!"
"Whoever it was, I hope we shall meet him at the Picnic!" said Lady Muriel.
"It's a far more interesting question than 'Isn't this a picturesque ruin?'
Aren't those autumn-tints lovely?' I shall have to answer those two
Sylvie and Bruno |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle: closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close
to where he stood hid behind the curtain.
"As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action
without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the
instant that she was gone he realized how crushing a misfortune
this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it
right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened
the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane,
where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George
Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was
a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: be to get ready to die. Philosophy, constructing its system of
morals in conformity to the existing phenomena of decadence, will
tell him that he had better never have been born. Daily
conversation will inform him of horrible events, of the
devastation of a province, the sack of a town by the Goths, the
oppression of the neighbouring peasants by the imperial
tax-collectors, or the civil war that has just burst out between
half a dozen pretenders to the throne. As he travels about, he
beholds signs of mourning and despair, crowds of beggars, people
dying of hunger, a broken bridge which no one is mending, an
abandoned suburb which is going to ruin, fields choked with
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
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 The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson: had attracted her attention. And now, on the third floor, the
party separated, the younger lady continuing to ascend alone, the
other, followed by the waiting-maids, descending the corridor to
the right.
Dick mounted with a swift foot, and holding to the corner, thrust
forth his head and followed the three women with his eyes. Without
turning or looking behind them, they continued to descend the
corridor.
"It is right well," thought Dick. "Let me but know my Lady
Brackley's chamber, and it will go hard an I find not Dame Hatch
upon an errand."
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