| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Art of Writing by Robert Louis Stevenson: which it forms a chief adornment, and do not hold me
answerable for the all too Roman freedom of the sense: 'Hanc
volo, quae facilis, quae palliolata vagatur.'
(6) Coleridge.
(7) Antony and Cleopatra.
(8) Cymbeline.
(9) The V is in 'of.'
(10) Troilus and Cressida.
(11) First published in the FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW, April 1881.
(12) Mr. James Payn.
(13) A footnote, at least, is due to the admirable example
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Exiles by Honore de Balzac: disguise. His black cap--like the /beret/ worn by the Basque people--
showed a brow as white as snow, where grace and innocence shone with
an expression of divine sweetness--the light of a soul full of faith.
A poet's fancy would have seen there the star which, in some old tale,
a mother entreats the fairy godmother to set on the forehead of an
infant abandoned, like Moses, to the waves. Love lurked in the
thousand fair curls that fell over his shoulders. His throat, truly a
swan's throat, was white and exquisitely round. His blue eyes, bright
and liquid, mirrored the sky. His features and the mould of his brow
were refined and delicate enough to enchant a painter. The bloom of
beauty, which in a woman's face causes men such indescribable delight,
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche: Thou peacock of peacocks, thou sea of vanity; WHAT didst thou represent
before me, thou evil magician; WHOM was I meant to believe in when thou
wailedst in such wise?"
"THE PENITENT IN SPIRIT," said the old man, "it was him--I represented;
thou thyself once devisedst this expression--
--The poet and magician who at last turneth his spirit against himself, the
transformed one who freezeth to death by his bad science and conscience.
And just acknowledge it: it was long, O Zarathustra, before thou
discoveredst my trick and lie! Thou BELIEVEDST in my distress when thou
heldest my head with both thy hands,--
--I heard thee lament 'we have loved him too little, loved him too little!'
Thus Spake Zarathustra |
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 United States Bill of Rights: III
No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house,
without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war,
but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers,
and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated,
and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath
or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched,
and the persons or things to be seized.
V
|
