| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Large Catechism by Dr. Martin Luther: And indeed, if there were a well-ordered government in the land, such
wantonness might soon be checked and prevented, as was the custom in
ancient times among the Romans, where such characters were promptly
seized by the pate in a way that others took warning.
No more shall all the rest prosper who change the open free market into
a carrion-pit of extortion and a den of robbery, where the poor are
daily overcharged, new burdens and high prices are imposed, and every
one uses the market according to his caprice, and is even defiant and
brags as though it were his fair privilege and right to sell his goods
for as high a price as he please, and no one had a right to say a word
against it. We will indeed look on and let these people skin, pinch,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Moral Emblems by Robert Louis Stevenson: 'Money is money,' so he said.
'Crescents are crescents, trade is trade.
Pharaohs and emperors in their seasons
Built, I believe, for different reasons -
Charity, glory, piety, pride -
To pay the men, to please a bride,
To use their stone, to spite their neighbours,
Not for a profit on their labours.
They built to edify or bewilder;
I build because I am a builder.
Crescent and street and square I build,
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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 King of the Golden River by John Ruskin: of course, agree particularly well with his brothers, or, rather,
they did not agree with HIM. He was usually appointed to the
honorable office of turnspit, when there was anything to roast,
which was not often, for, to do the brothers justice, they were
hardly less sparing upon themselves than upon other people. At
other times he used to clean the shoes, floors, and sometimes the
plates, occasionally getting what was left on them, by way of
encouragement, and a wholesome quantity of dry blows by way of
education.
Things went on in this manner for a long time. At last came
a very wet summer, and everything went wrong in the country round.
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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 Father Damien by Robert Louis Stevenson: much depicted with a conventional halo and conventional features;
so drawn by men who perhaps had not the eye to remark or the pen to
express the individual; or who perhaps were only blinded and
silenced by generous admiration, such as I partly envy for myself -
such as you, if your soul were enlightened, would envy on your
bended knees. It is the least defect of such a method of
portraiture that it makes the path easy for the devil's advocate,
and leaves the misuse of the slanderer a considerable field of
truth. For the truth that is suppressed by friends is the readiest
weapon of the enemy. The world, in your despite, may perhaps owe
you something, if your letter be the means of substituting once for
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