| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Love and Friendship by Jane Austen: though not with equal Cordiality, as Philippa. There was a
disagreable coldness and Forbidding Reserve in her reception of
me which was equally distressing and Unexpected. None of that
interesting Sensibility or amiable simpathy in her manners and
Address to me when we first met which should have distinguished
our introduction to each other. Her Language was neither warm,
nor affectionate, her expressions of regard were neither animated
nor cordial; her arms were not opened to receive me to her Heart,
tho' my own were extended to press her to mine.
A short Conversation between Augusta and her Brother, which I
accidentally overheard encreased my dislike to her, and convinced
Love and Friendship |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Of The Nature of Things by Lucretius: They willed to prepare this world's magnificence,
And that 'tis therefore duty and behoof
To praise the work of gods as worthy praise,
And that 'tis sacrilege for men to shake
Ever by any force from out their seats
What hath been stablished by the Forethought old
To everlasting for races of mankind,
And that 'tis sacrilege to assault by words
And overtopple all from base to beam,-
Memmius, such notions to concoct and pile,
Is verily- to dote. Our gratefulness,
Of The Nature of Things |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Beauty and The Beast by Bayard Taylor: she awoke to weep at his side, because of the years when she had
awakened to weep alone; by day she kept up her old habit of
foreboding, although the evening steadily refuted the morning; and
there were times when, without any apparent cause, she would fall
into a dark, despairing mood which her husband's greatest care and
cunning could only slowly dispel.
Two or three years passed, and new life came to the Vincent farm.
One day, between midnight and dawn, the family pair was doubled;
the cry of twin sons was heard in the hushed house. The father
restrained his happy wonder in his concern for the imperilled life
of the mother; he guessed that she had anticipated death, and she
|
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 Child of Storm by H. Rider Haggard: matter," a saying at which all that audience pricked their ears.
Then I rose up in wrath and fear, knowing my position to be one of some
danger.
"Wizard, or Smeller-out of Wizards, whichever you name yourself," I
called in a loud voice, "if you mean that _I_ killed Nandie's child, you
lie!"
"No, no, Macumazahn," he answered, "but you tried to save it, and
therefore you had something to do with the matter, had you not?
Moreover, I think that you, who are wise like me, know who did kill it.
Won't you tell me, Macumazahn? No? Then I must find out for myself.
Be at peace. Does not all the land know that your hands are white as
Child of Storm |
