| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: had made her to some extent the possessor of a heart worthy to be the
envy of every woman. They sang an Italian duet with so much expression
that the audience applauded enthusiastically. Their adieux were in a
conventional tone, which concealed their happiness. In short, this day
had been to Emilie like a chain binding her more closely than ever to
the Stranger's fate. The strength and dignity he had displayed in the
scene when they had confessed their feelings had perhaps impressed
Mademoiselle de Fontaine with the respect without which there is no
true love.
When she was left alone in the drawing-room with her father, the old
man went up to her affectionately, held her hands, and asked her
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Pagan and Christian Creeds by Edward Carpenter: but the briefest glance at the history of the Christian
churches--the horrible rancours and revenges of the
clergy and the sects against each other in the fourth
and fifth centuries A.D., the heresy-hunting crusades at
Beziers and other places and the massacres of the Albigenses
in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the witch-findings
and burnings of the sixteenth and seventeenth, the hideous
science-urged and bishop-blessed warfare of the twentieth
--horrors fully as great as any we can charge to the account
of the Aztecs or the Babylonians--must give us pause.
Nor must we forget that if there is by chance a substantial
Pagan and Christian Creeds |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: these words that Mr. Edward--MY Mr. Rochester (God bless him,
wherever he was!)--was at least alive: was, in short, "the present
gentleman." Gladdening words! It seemed I could hear all that was
to come--whatever the disclosures might be--with comparative
tranquillity. Since he was not in the grave, I could bear, I
thought, to learn that he was at the Antipodes.
"Is Mr. Rochester living at Thornfield Hall now?" I asked, knowing,
of course, what the answer would be, but yet desirous of deferring
the direct question as to where he really was.
"No, ma'am--oh, no! No one is living there. I suppose you are a
stranger in these parts, or you would have heard what happened last
Jane Eyre |
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 A Book of Remarkable Criminals by H. B. Irving: a partial view of the Dewars' house in Cumberland Street could be
obtained, two more salmon tins were found, all three similar to
the five purchased by Butler on the Sunday morning, two of which
had been in his possession at the time of his arrest.
Such were the main facts of the case which Butler had to answer
when, a few weeks later, he was put on his trial before the
Supreme Court at Dunedin. The presiding judge was Mr. Justice
Williams, afterwards Sir Joshua Williams and a member of the
Privy Council. The Crown Prosecutor, Mr. Haggitt, conducted
the case for the Crown, and Butler defended himself.
II
A Book of Remarkable Criminals |
