| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Virginibus Puerisque by Robert Louis Stevenson: sympathy with the scene, and is not moved up to the measure of
the occasion; and that some one is himself. The world is
disenchanted for him. He seems to himself to touch things
with muffled hands, and to see them through a veil. His life
becomes a palsied fumbling after notes that are silent when he
has found and struck them. He cannot recognise that this
phlegmatic and unimpressionable body with which he now goes
burthened, is the same that he knew heretofore so quick and
delicate and alive.
He is tempted to lay the blame on the very softness and
amenity of the climate, and to fancy that in the rigours of
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Travels with a Donkey in the Cevenne by Robert Louis Stevenson: and conversible, and we decided the future of France over hot wine,
until the state of the clock frightened us to rest. There were
four beds in the little upstairs room; and we slept six. But I had
a bed to myself, and persuaded them to leave the window open.
'HE, BOURGEOIS; IL EST CINQ HEURES!' was the cry that wakened me in
the morning (Saturday, September 28th). The room was full of a
transparent darkness, which dimly showed me the other three beds
and the five different nightcaps on the pillows. But out of the
window the dawn was growing ruddy in a long belt over the hill-
tops, and day was about to flood the plateau. The hour was
inspiriting; and there seemed a promise of calm weather, which was
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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 Complete Angler by Izaak Walton: His bed, more safe than soft, yields quiet sleeps,
While by his side his faithful spouse teas place
His little son into his bosom creeps,
The lively picture of his father's face.
His humble house or poor state ne'er torment him
Less he could like, if less his God had lent him;
And when he dies, green turfs do for a tomb content him,
Gentlemen, these were a part of the thoughts that then possessed me.
And I there made a conversion of a piece of an old catch, and added
more to it, fitting them to be sung by us anglers. Come, Master, you can
sing well: you must sing a part of it. as it is in this paper.
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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 Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: weight of ignominy. The torture of the soul had come forth upon
the countenance. It seemed as if the picture, while hidden behind
the cloud of immemorial years, had been all the time acquiring an
intenser depth and darkness of expression, till now it gloomed
forth again, and threw its evil omen over the present hour. Such,
if the wild legend may be credited, was the portrait of Edward
Randolph, as he appeared when a people's curse had wrought its
influence upon his nature.
" 'T would drive me mad--that awful face!" said Hutchinson, who
seemed fascinated by the contemplation of it.
"Be warned, then!" whispered Alice. "He trampled on a people's
Twice Told Tales |
