| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Cromwell by William Shakespeare: As Gardiner did pronounce it with his breath:
From treason is my heart as white as snow,
My death only procured by my foe.
I pray, commend me to my Sovereign king,
And tell him in what sort his Cromwell died,
To lose his head before his cause were tried:
But let his Grace, when he shall hear my name,
Say only this: Gardiner procured the same.
[Enter young Cromwell.]
LIEUTENANT.
Here is your son, come to take his leave.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: Greek Dialogue; nor is the English language easily adapted to it. The
rapidity and abruptness of question and answer, the constant repetition of
(Greek), etc., which Cicero avoided in Latin (de Amicit), the frequent
occurrence of expletives, would, if reproduced in a translation, give
offence to the reader. Greek has a freer and more frequent use of the
Interrogative, and is of a more passionate and emotional character, and
therefore lends itself with greater readiness to the dialogue form. Most
of the so-called English Dialogues are but poor imitations of Plato, which
fall very far short of the original. The breath of conversation, the
subtle adjustment of question and answer, the lively play of fancy, the
power of drawing characters, are wanting in them. But the Platonic
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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 Disputation of the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences by Dr. Martin Luther: liberior.
20. [45] Docendi sunt christiani, quod, qui videt egenum et
neglecto eo dat pro veniis, non idulgentias Pape sed indignationem
dei sibi vendicat.
21. [46] Docendi sunt christiani, quod nisi superfluis abundent
necessaria tenentur domui sue retinere et nequaquam propter venias
effundere.
22. [47] Docendi sunt christiani, quod redemptio veniarum est
libera, non precepta.
23. [48] Docendi sunt christiani, quod Papa sicut magis eget ita
magis optat in veniis dandis pro se devotam orationem quam
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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 Ancient Regime by Charles Kingsley: blasts of Fame's lying trumpet they helped to deliver men; and they
therefore helped to insure something like peace and personal
security for those quiet, modest, and generally virtuous men, who,
as students of physical science, devoted their lives, during the
eighteenth century, to asking of nature--What are the facts of the
case?
It was no coincidence, but a connection of cause and effect, that
during the century of philosopher sound physical science throve, as
she had never thriven before; that in zoology and botany, chemistry
and medicine, geology and astronomy, man after man, both of the
middle and the noble classes, laid down on more and more sound,
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