| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from 1492 by Mary Johntson: Bartolome de Las Casas, whom Juan Lepe should
live to know and work with. But this evening I heard the
father talk, as any father of any promising son.
With us, too, was Don Juan Ponce de Leon, who had a
story out of Mandeville of a well by the city of Polombe in
Prester John's country. If you drank of the well, though
you were dying you would never more have sickness, and
though you were white-bearded you would come young
again!
The palms waved above Isabella that was building behind
the camp by the river. It was beginning, it was planned
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Royalty Restored/London Under Charles II by J. Fitzgerald Molloy: hour gave fair promise of entertainment. But presently, when
supper was announced, his majesty was missing, and on inquiry it
was discovered he had left the house for Lady Castlemaine's
lodgings, where he spent the evening. Such an insult as this so
openly dealt the queen, and such an indignity put upon the
hostess, caused the greatest agitation to all present; and
subsequently afforded subject for scandalous gossip to the town.
It moreover showed that the monarch was yet an abject slave of
his mistress, whose charms entangled him irresistibly. At least
four times a week he supped with her, returning at early morning
from her lodgings, in a stealthy way, through the privy gardens,
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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 Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes: (for B. F. had NOT gone right off, of course,) and bring down a
small volume from the left upper corner of the right-hand shelves?
[Look at the precious little black, ribbed backed, clean-typed,
vellum-papered 32mo. "DESIDERII ERASMI COLLOQUIA. Amstelodami.
Typis Ludovici Elzevirii. 1650." Various names written on title-
page. Most conspicuous this: Gul. Cookeson E. Coll. Omn. Anim.
1725. Oxon.
- O William Cookeson, of All-Souls College, Oxford, - then writing
as I now write, - now in the dust, where I shall lie, - is this
line all that remains to thee of earthly remembrance? Thy name is
at least once more spoken by living men; - is it a pleasure to
The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table |
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 Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells: the old animal hate moved them to trouble one another; the Law held
them back from a brief hot struggle and a decisive end to their
natural animosities.
In those days my fear of the Beast People went the way of my personal
fear for Moreau. I fell indeed into a morbid state, deep and enduring,
and alien to fear, which has left permanent scars upon my mind.
I must confess that I lost faith in the sanity of the world
when I saw it suffering the painful disorder of this island.
A blind Fate, a vast pitiless Mechanism, seemed to cut and
shape the fabric of existence and I, Moreau (by his passion
for research), Montgomery (by his passion for drink), the Beast
The Island of Doctor Moreau |
