| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker: "I propose to provide at Diana's Grove, as soon as it comes into my
possession, an enormous amount of such sand, and shall take an early
occasion of pouring it into the well-hole, which it will in time
choke. Thus Lady Arabella, in her guise of the White Worm, will
find herself cut off from her refuge. The hole is a narrow one, and
is some hundreds of feet deep. The weight of the sand this can
contain would not in itself be sufficient to obstruct; but the
friction of such a body working up against it would be tremendous."
"One moment. What use would the sand be for destruction?"
"None, directly; but it would hold the struggling body in place till
the rest of my scheme came into practice."
Lair of the White Worm |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Records of a Family of Engineers by Robert Louis Stevenson: visit was quite overdue, and as he walked across upon the
Monday morning he promised himself that he should at last take
the keepers unprepared. They were both waiting for him in
uniform at the gate; the fiddler had been there on Saturday!
My grandfather, as will appear from the following
extracts, was much a martinet, and had a habit of expressing
himself on paper with an almost startling emphasis.
Personally, with his powerful voice, sanguine countenance, and
eccentric and original locutions, he was well qualified to
inspire a salutary terror in the service.
`I find that the keepers have, by some means or another,
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