| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Reef by Edith Wharton: girl that their secret was safe with him; but it was far
from easy to square this with the equally urgent obligation
of safe-guarding Anna's responsibility toward her child.
Darrow was not much afraid of accidental disclosures. Both
he and Sophy Viner had too much at stake not to be on their
guard. The fear that beset him was of another kind, and had
a profounder source. He wanted to do all he could for the
girl, but the fact of having had to urge Anna to confide
Effie to her was peculiarly repugnant to him. His own ideas
about Sophy Viner were too mixed and indeterminate for him
not to feel the risk of such an experiment; yet he found
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas Wentworth Higginson: than hear it again.
At these times she thought of Malbone, how gifted he was, how
inexhaustible, how agreeable, with a faculty for happiness that
would have been almost provoking had it not been contagious.
Then she looked from her airy perch and smiled at him at the
club-window, where he stood in the most negligent of attitudes,
and with every faculty strained in observation. A moment and
she was gone.
Then all was gone, and a mob of queens might have blocked the
way, without his caring to discuss their genealogies, even with
old General Le Breton, who had spent his best (or his worst)
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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 The Smalcald Articles by Dr. Martin Luther: wished to retain the people, God has constantly advanced His
work, and been making their following ever smaller and ours
greater, and by their lies has caused and still causes them to
be brought to shame.
I must tell a story. There was a doctor sent here to
Wittenberg from France, who said publicly before us that his
king was sure and more than sure, that among us there is no
church, no magistrate, no married life, but all live
promiscuously as cattle, and each one does as he pleases.
Imagine now, how will those who by their writings have
instilled such gross lies into the king and other countries as
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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 Ivanhoe by Walter Scott: ``Be it so, kind maiden,'' said Ivanhoe; ``I were
most ungrateful to dispute thy commands. But
one word of the fate of poor Gurth, and I have done
with questioning thee.''
``I grieve to tell thee, Sir Knight,'' answered
the Jewess, `` that he is in custody by the order of
Cedric.''---And then observing the distress which
her communication gave to Wilfred, she instantly
added, ``But the steward Oswald said, that if nothing
occurred to renew his master's displeasure
against him, he was sure that Cedric would pardon
Ivanhoe |
