| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Vailima Letters by Robert Louis Stevenson: is, from any point of view, disgusting; above all, from that
of work; for, whatever the result, the mill has to be kept
turning; apparently dust, and not flour, is the proceed.
Well, there is gold in the dust, which is a fine consolation,
since - well, I can't help it; night or morning, I do my
darndest, and if I cannot charge for merit, I must e'en
charge for toil, of which I have plenty and plenty more ahead
before this cup is drained; sweat and hyssop are the
ingredients.
We are clearing from Carruthers' Road to the pig fence,
twenty-eight powerful natives with Catholic medals about
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini: as if by inspiration, he saw the way - a way which if adopted would
probably bring La Tour d'Azyr to a poetic justice, bring him,
insolent, confident, to thrust himself upon Andre-Louis' sword,
with all the odium of provocation on his own side.
He turned to them again, and they saw that he was very pale, that
his great dark eyes glowed oddly.
"There will probably be some difficulty in finding a suppleant for
this poor Lagron," he said. "Our fellow-countrymen will be none so
eager to offer themselves to the swords of Privilege.
"True enough," said Le Chapelier gloomily; and then, as if suddenly
leaping to the thing in Andre-Louis' mind: "Andre!" he cried.
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Manon Lescaut by Abbe Prevost: did not foresee, nor did I, that it was against herself the whole
anger of Heaven, and the rabid fury of our enemies, was about to
be concentrated.
"I went to the fort: the governor was there with his chaplain.
I supplicated him in a tone of humble submission that I could
have ill brooked under other circumstances. I invoked his
clemency by every argument calculated to soften any heart less
ferocious and cruel than a tiger's.
"The barbarian made to all my prayers but two short answers,
which he repeated over and over again. `Manon,' he said, `was at
his disposal: and he had given a promise to his nephew.' I was
|
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 Cratylus by Plato: first principles of philosophy could be elicited from the analysis of the
proposition, in this respect falling short of Plato. Westphal holds that
there are three stages of language: (1) in which things were characterized
independently, (2) in which they were regarded in relation to human
thought, and (3) in relation to one another. But are not such distinctions
an anachronism? for they imply a growth of abstract ideas which never
existed in early times. Language cannot be explained by Metaphysics; for
it is prior to them and much more nearly allied to sense. It is not likely
that the meaning of the cases is ultimately resolvable into relations of
space and time. Nor can we suppose the conception of cause and effect or
of the finite and infinite or of the same and other to be latent in
|
