| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Critias by Plato: advantage: (2) the manner in which traditional names and indications of
geography are intermingled ('Why, here be truths!'): (3) the extreme
minuteness with which the numbers are given, as in the Old Epic poetry:
(4) the ingenious reason assigned for the Greek names occurring in the
Egyptian tale: (5) the remark that the armed statue of Athena indicated
the common warrior life of men and women: (6) the particularity with which
the third deluge before that of Deucalion is affirmed to have been the
great destruction: (7) the happy guess that great geological changes have
been effected by water: (8) the indulgence of the prejudice against
sailing beyond the Columns, and the popular belief of the shallowness of
the ocean in that part: (9) the confession that the depth of the ditch in
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from From London to Land's End by Daniel Defoe: stability that he usually said he only desired to be in it when a
storm should happen; for many people had told him it would
certainly fall if it came to blow a little harder than ordinary.
But he happened at last to be in it once too often--namely, when
that dreadful tempest blew, November 27, 1703. This tempest began
on the Wednesday before, and blew with such violence, and shook the
lighthouse so much, that, as they told me there, Mr. Winstanley
would fain have been on shore, and made signals for help; but no
boats durst go off to him; and, to finish the tragedy, on the
Friday, November 26, when the tempest was so redoubled that it
became a terror to the whole nation, the first sight there seaward
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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 Smalcald Articles by Dr. Martin Luther: John 16, 8: The Holy Ghost will reprove the world of sin.
This, then, is the thunderbolt of God by which He strikes in a
heap [hurls to the ground] both manifest sinners and false
saints [hypocrites], and suffers no one to be in the right
[declares no one righteous], but drives them all together to
terror and despair. This is the hammer, as Jeremiah says, 23,
29: Is not My Word like a hammer that breaketh the rock in
pieces? This is not activa contritio or manufactured
repentance, but passiva contritio [torture of conscience],
true sorrow of heart, suffering and sensation of death.
This, then, is what it means to begin true repentance; and
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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 The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas: natural magnificence were as dazzling to the prisoner as a
ray of light flashing suddenly into his dungeon.
Notwithstanding the little readiness which his companion had
shown in answering his questions concerning his fate, he
ventured once more to ask the meaning of all this bustle,
which at first sight seemed to be utterly disconnected with
his own affairs.
"What is all this, pray, Mynheer Lieutenant?" he asked of
his conductor.
"As you may see, sir," replied the officer, "it is a feast."
"Ah, a feast," said Cornelius, in the sad tone of
The Black Tulip |
