| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: and virtue. This woman is blessed; that poor young man is cursed. The
criminal is covered with obloquy; I receive the respect of all. I had
the largest share in the sin; he has a share, a large share in the
good which has won for me such glory and such gratitude. Fraud that I
am, I have the honor; he, the martyr to his loyalty, has the shame. I
shall die in a few hours, and the canton will mourn me; the whole
department will ring with my good deeds, my piety, my virtue; but he
died covered with insults, in sight of a whole population rushing,
with hatred to a murderer, to see him die. You, my judges, you are
indulgent to me; yet I hear within myself an imperious voice which
will not let me rest. Ah! the hand of God, less tender than yours,
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) by Dante Alighieri: He would not have thereby a joyous vengeance."
Then did my Leader speak with such great force,
That I had never heard him speak so loud:
"O Capaneus, in that is not extinguished
Thine arrogance, thou punished art the more;
Not any torment, saving thine own rage,
Would be unto thy fury pain complete."
Then he turned round to me with better lip,
Saying: "One of the Seven Kings was he
Who Thebes besieged, and held, and seems to hold
God in disdain, and little seems to prize him;
The Divine Comedy (translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Enemies of Books by William Blades: and the reverberation of monster artillery, the burning
leaves of the first printed Bible and many another priceless
volume were wafted into the sky, the ashes floating for miles
on the heated air, and carrying to the astonished countryman
the first news of the devastation of his Capital.
When the Offor Collection was put to the hammer by Messrs Sotheby
and Wilkinson, the well-known auctioneers of Wellington Street,
and when about three days of the sale had been gone through, a Fire
occurred in the adjoining house, and, gaining possession of the Sale Rooms,
made a speedy end of the unique Bunyan and other rarities then on show.
I was allowed to see the Ruins on the following day, and by means
|
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 Ebb-Tide by Stevenson & Osbourne: under sail and men at fisticuffs.
It came to him of a sudden that he too must leave upon these
walls the memorial of his passage. He paused before a clean
space, took the pencil out, and pondered. Vanity, so hard to
dislodge, awoke in him. We call it vanity at least; perhaps
unjustly. Rather it was the bare sense of his existence prompted
him; the sense of his life, the one thing wonderful, to which he
scarce clung with a finger. From his jarred nerves there came a
strong sentiment of coming change; whether good or ill he could
not say: change, he knew no more--change, with inscrutable
veiled face, approaching noiseless. With the feeling, came the
|
