| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Historical Lecturers and Essays by Charles Kingsley: both sides of the question: whatever conclusion they come to, it
will probably not be that to which George Chalmers comes in his life
of Ruddiman: that "Buchanan, like other liars, who, by the
repetition of falsehoods are induced to consider the fiction as
truth, had so often dwelt with complacency on the forgeries of his
Detections, and the figments of his History, that he at length
regarded his fictions and his forgeries as most authentic facts."
At all events his fictions and his forgeries had not paid him in
that coin which base men generally consider the only coin worth
having, namely, the good things of this life. He left nothing
behind him--if at least Dr. Irving has rightly construed the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from What is Man? by Mark Twain: won them all, and made them her friends. An English fisherman's
wife said, "When a body was in trouble she didn't send her help,
she brought it herself." Crowns have adorned others, but she
adorned her crowns.
It was a swift celebrity the assassin achieved. And it is
marked by some curious contrasts. At noon last, Saturday there
was no one in the world who would have considered
acquaintanceship with him a thing worth claiming or mentioning;
no one would have been vain of such an acquaintanceship; the
humblest honest boot-black would not have valued the fact that he
had met him or seen him at some time or other; he was sunk in
What is Man? |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Augsburg Confession by Philip Melanchthon: weightier ones why it ought to be given back; for so Platina
writes. Since, therefore, our priests were desirous to avoid
these open scandals, they married wives, and taught that it
was lawful for them to contract matrimony. First, because Paul
says, 1 Cor. 7, 2. 9: To avoid fornication, let every man have
his own wife. Also: It is better to marry than to burn.
Secondly Christ says, Matt. 19,11: All men cannot receive this
saying, where He teaches that not all men are fit to lead a
single life; for God created man for procreation, Gen. 1, 28.
Nor is it in man's power, without a singular gift and work of
God, to alter this creation. [For it is manifest, and many
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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 Lady Susan by Jane Austen: into tears as soon as we were seated, took her out of the room, and did not
return for some time. When she did, her eyes looked very red and she was as
much agitated as before. We saw no more of her daughter. Poor Reginald was
beyond measure concerned to see his fair friend in such distress, and
watched her with so much tender solicitude, that I, who occasionally caught
her observing his countenance with exultation, was quite out of patience.
This pathetic representation lasted the whole evening, and so ostentatious
and artful a display has entirely convinced me that she did in fact feel
nothing. I am more angry with her than ever since I have seen her daughter;
the poor girl looks so unhappy that my heart aches for her. Lady Susan is
surely too severe, for Frederica does not seem to have the sort of temper
Lady Susan |
