| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lesson of the Master by Henry James: world, he and I - but there was none of the society I like best.
One never heard of a picture - never of a book, except bad ones."
"Never of a picture? Why, wasn't all life a picture?"
She looked over the delightful place where they sat. "Nothing to
compare to this. I adore England!" she cried.
It fairly stirred in him the sacred chord. "Ah of course I don't
deny that we must do something with her, poor old dear, yet."
"She hasn't been touched, really," said the girl.
"Did Mr. St. George say that?"
There was a small and, as he felt, harmless spark of irony in his
question; which, however, she answered very simply, not noticing
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy: number of years! You know, I suppose, of my marriage?'
And there sprang up a dialogue concerning family matters of birth,
death, and marriage, which it is not necessary to detail. Knight
presently inquired:
'The young lady who changed into the other carriage is, then, your
stepdaughter?'
'Yes, Elfride. You must know her.'
'And who was the lady in the carriage Elfride entered; who had an
ill-defined and watery look, as if she were only the reflection of
herself in a pool?'
'Lady Luxellian; very weakly, Elfride says. My husband is
A Pair of Blue Eyes |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The School For Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan: LADY SNEERWELL. Heavens! how dull you are! cannot you surmise
the weakness which I hitherto, thro' shame have concealed even
from you--must I confess that Charles--that Libertine, that
extravagant, that Bankrupt in Fortune and Reputation--that He
it is for whom I am thus anxious and malicious and to gain whom
I would sacrifice--everything----
VERJUICE. Now indeed--your conduct appears consistent and I
no longer wonder at your enmity to Maria, but how came you and
Surface so confidential?
LADY SNEERWELL. For our mutual interest--but I have found out
him a long time since[,] altho' He has contrived to deceive
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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 Charmides by Plato: Jackson's own expressions,--'whereas in the period of the Republic and the
Phaedo, it was proposed to pass through ontology to the sciences, in the
period of the Parmenides and the Philebus, it is proposed to pass through
the sciences to ontology': or, as he repeats in nearly the same words,--
'whereas in the Republic and in the Phaedo he had dreamt of passing through
ontology to the sciences, he is now content to pass through the sciences to
ontology.'
This theory is supposed to be based on Aristotle's Metaphysics, a passage
containing an account of the ideas, which hitherto scholars have found
impossible to reconcile with the statements of Plato himself. The
preparations for the new departure are discovered in the Parmenides and in
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