| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Confessio Amantis by John Gower: Bot thogh him lacke forto plede,
Him lacketh nothing of manhede; 2070
He wiste wel his pours was povere,
Bot yit he thoghte his riht recovere,
And openly poverte alleide,
To themperour and thus he seide:
"O Julius, lord of the lawe,
Behold, mi conseil is withdrawe
For lacke of gold: do thin office
After the lawes of justice:
Help that I hadde conseil hiere
Confessio Amantis |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Hero of Our Time by M.Y. Lermontov: slavl, the other, an Ossete. The latter took out
the leaders in good time and led the shaft-horse
by the reins, using every possible precaution --
but our heedless compatriot did not even climb
down from his box! When I remarked to him
that he might put himself out a bit, at least in
the interests of my portmanteau, for which I
had not the slightest desire to clamber down into
the abyss, he answered:
"Eh, master, with the help of Heaven we
shall arrive as safe and sound as the others; it's
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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 Under the Andes by Rex Stout: accustomed to the absence of light; and though we could by no means
see clearly, nor even could properly be said to see at all, still
we began to distinguish the outlines of walls several feet away;
and, better than that, each of us could plainly mark the form and
face of the other.
Once we stood close, less than a foot apart, for a test; and
when Harry cried eagerly, "Thank Heaven, I can see your nose!" our
strained feelings were relieved by a prolonged burst of genuine
laughter.
There was little enough of it in the time that followed, for
our sufferings now became a matter not of minutes or hours, but of
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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 House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne: they show finely in their first newness, but cannot stand the sun
and rain, and assume a very sober aspect after washing-day.
But our business is with Holgrave as we find him on this particular
afternoon, and in the arbor of the Pyncheon garden. In that point
of view, it was a pleasant sight to behold this young man, with so
much faith in himself, and so fair an appearance of admirable
powers,--so little harmed, too, by the many tests that had tried
his metal,--it was pleasant to see him in his kindly intercourse
with Phoebe. Her thought had scarcely done him justice when it
pronounced him cold; or, if so, he had grown warmer now. Without
such purpose on her part, and unconsciously on his, she made the
House of Seven Gables |
