| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Padre Ignacio by Owen Wister: One morning, behind the Quai Voltaire, an old, yellow house with rusty
balconies made me almost homesick for New Orleans."
"The Quai Voltaire!" said the Padre.
"I heard Rachel in Valerie that night," the young man went on. "Did you
know that she could sing, too. She sang several verses by an astonishing
little Jew violon-cellist that is come up over there."
The Padre gazed down at his blithe guest. "To see somebody, somebody,
once again, is very pleasant to a hermit!"
"It cannot be more pleasant than arriving at an oasis," returned Gaston.
They had delayed on the threshold to look at the beauty of the evening,
and now the priest watched his parishioners come and go. "How can one
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Alexandria and her Schools by Charles Kingsley: puzzles and self-contradictions, which seem to justify him at last in
saying, No. It is in the philosopher, who is ready by nature, as
Plotinus has it, and as it were furnished with wings, and not needing to
sever himself from matter like the rest, but disposed already to ascend
to that which is above. And in a degree too, it is in the "lover," who,
according to Plotinus, has a certain innate recollection of beauty, and
hovers round it, and desires it, wherever he sees it. Him you may raise
to the apprehension of the one incorporeal Beauty, by teaching him to
separate beauty from the various objects in which it appears scattered
and divided. And it is even in the third class, the lowest of whom
there is hope, namely, the musical man, capable of being passively
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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 Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte: and gay; but an ugly beast, nevertheless: however, mamma says I
should not mind that after a few months' acquaintance. Then, there
was Henry Meltham, Sir Hugh's younger son; rather good-looking, and
a pleasant fellow to flirt with: but BEING a younger son, that is
all he is good for; then there was young Mr. Green, rich enough,
but of no family, and a great stupid fellow, a mere country booby!
and then, our good rector, Mr. Hatfield: an HUMBLE admirer he
ought to consider himself; but I fear he has forgotten to number
humility among his stock of Christian virtues.'
'Was Mr. Hatfield at the ball?'
'Yes, to he sure. Did you think he was too good to go?'
Agnes Grey |
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 Youth by Joseph Conrad: and made her roll. They might go at any moment. We
looked at them with apprehension. One could not fore-
see which way they would fall.
"Then we retreated aft and looked about us. The
deck was a tangle of planks on edge, of planks on end,
of splinters, of ruined woodwork. The masts rose from
that chaos like big trees above a matted undergrowth.
The interstices of that mass of wreckage were full of
something whitish, sluggish, stirring--of something that
was like a greasy fog. The smoke of the invisible fire
was coming up again, was trailing, like a poisonous thick
Youth |
