| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from King Lear by William Shakespeare: prey.
Let not the creaking of shoes nor the rustling of silks
betray
thy poor heart to woman. Keep thy foot out of brothel, thy
hand
out of placket, thy pen from lender's book, and defy the
foul
fiend. Still through the hawthorn blows the cold wind; says
suum, mun, hey, no, nonny. Dolphin my boy, my boy, sessa!
let
him trot by.
King Lear |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from My Aunt Margaret's Mirror by Walter Scott: high treason, as an agent of the Chevalier St. George; and Lady
Bothwell, recollecting the hints which had escaped the doctor, an
ardent friend of the Protestant succession, did then call to
remembrance that this man was chiefly PRONE among the ancient
matrons of her own political persuasion. It certainly seemed
probable that intelligence from the Continent, which could easily
have been transmitted by an active and powerful agent, might have
enabled him to prepare such a scene of phantasmagoria as she had
herself witnessed. Yet there were so many difficulties in
assigning a natural explanation, that, to the day of her death,
she remained in great doubt on the subject, and much disposed to
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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 Sanitary and Social Lectures by Charles Kingsley: told of an "enormous sacrifice of life;" an expression which means
merely that a great many poor wretches have been killed, quite
against their own will, and for no purpose whatsoever; no
sacrifice at all, unless it be one to the demons of ignorance,
cupidity, or mismanagement.
The stout Whig undergraduate understood better the meaning of such
words, who, when asked, "In what sense might Charles the First be
said to be a martyr?" answered, "In the same sense that a man
might be said to be a martyr to the gout."
And I must protest, in like wise, against a misuse of the words
"hero." "heroism," "heroic," which is becoming too common, namely,
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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 The Damnation of Theron Ware by Harold Frederic: an additional three hundred dollars yearly in his new
place was not mentioned between them.
By a mutual impulse the young couple, when they had at last
gained the cool open air, crossed the street to the side
where over-hanging trees shaded the infrequent lamps,
and they might be comparatively alone. The wife had
taken her husband's arm, and pressed closely upon it
as they walked. For a time no word passed, but finally
he said, in a grave voice,--
"It is hard upon you, poor girl."
Then she stopped short, buried her face against his shoulder,
The Damnation of Theron Ware |
