| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Poems by Oscar Wilde: Gaston de Foix: for some untimely star
Led him against thy city, and he fell,
As falls some forest-lion fighting well.
Taken from life while life and love were new,
He lies beneath God's seamless veil of blue;
Tall lance-like reeds wave sadly o'er his head,
And oleanders bloom to deeper red,
Where his bright youth flowed crimson on the ground.
Look farther north unto that broken mound, -
There, prisoned now within a lordly tomb
Raised by a daughter's hand, in lonely gloom,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Caesar's Commentaries in Latin by Julius Caesar: ipse cum reliquis eius legionis cohortibus in vico Veragrorum, qui
appellatur Octodurus hiemare; qui vicus positus in valle non magna adiecta
planitie altissimis montibus undique continetur. Cum hic in duas partes
flumine divideretur, alteram partem eius vici Gallis [ad hiemandum]
concessit, alteram vacuam ab his relictam cohortibus attribuit. Eum locum
vallo fossaque munivit.
Cum dies hibernorum complures transissent frumentumque eo comportari
iussisset, subito per exploratores certior factus est ex ea parte vici,
quam Gallis concesserat, omnes noctu discessisse montesque qui impenderent
a maxima multitudine Sedunorum et Veragrorum teneri. Id aliquot de causis
acciderat, ut subito Galli belli renovandi legionisque opprimendae
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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 Lady Susan by Jane Austen: uncomfortable, and confirmed her in the plan of altering it. No unkindness,
however, on the part of Lady Susan appeared. Persecution on the subject of
Sir James was entirely at an end; his name merely mentioned to say that he
was not in London; and indeed, in all her conversation, she was solicitous
only for the welfare and improvement of her daughter, acknowledging, in
terms of grateful delight, that Frederica was now growing every day more
and more what a parent could desire. Mrs. Vernon, surprized and
incredulous, knew not what to suspect, and, without any change in her own
views, only feared greater difficulty in accomplishing them. The first hope
of anything better was derived from Lady Susan's asking her whether she
thought Frederica looked quite as well as she had done at Churchhill, as
Lady Susan |
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 Market-Place by Harold Frederic: He would be a magistrate as a matter of course,
and he would make himself felt on the County Council.
He would astonish the county by his charities, and in bad
years by the munificence of his reductions in rents.
Perhaps if there were a particularly bad harvest, he would
decline all over his estate to exact any rent whatever.
Fancy what a noble sensation that would make! A Duke could
do no more.
It was very clear to him now that he desired to have children
of his own,--say two at least, a son and a daughter,
or perhaps a son and two daughters: two little girls
The Market-Place |
