| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: and leave my horse for him. Stay--stay, he comes: I hear a
horse's feet."
"Are you sure there is only one?" said Craigengelt. "I fear
there is a chase; I think I hear three or four galloping
together. I am sure I hear more horses than one."
"Pooh, pooh, it is the wench of the house clattering to the well
in her pattens. By my faith, Captain, you should give up both
your captainship and your secret service, for you are as easily
scared as a wild goose. But here comes the Master alone, and
looking as gloomy as a night in November."
The Master of Ravenswood entered the room accordingly, his cloak
 The Bride of Lammermoor |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from End of the Tether by Joseph Conrad: tion of the "Malotu or Whalley Passage" with the
words: "This advantageous route, first discovered in
1850 by Captain Whalley in the ship Condor," &c.,
and ends by recommending it warmly to sailing vessels
leaving the China ports for the south in the months
from December to April inclusive.
This was the clearest gain he had out of life. Nothing
could rob him of this kind of fame. The piercing of the
Isthmus of Suez, like the breaking of a dam, had let
in upon the East a flood of new ships, new men, new
methods of trade. It had changed the face of the East-
 End of the Tether |