| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen: impressed. He said it needed consideration, and asked me to
come again in the course of a week. A few days later I received
this extraordinary letter."
Austin took the envelope, drew out the letter, and read
it curiously. It ran as follows:--
"MY DEAR VILLIERS,--I have thought over the matter on
which you consulted me the other night, and my advice to you is
this. Throw the portrait into the fire, blot out the story from
your mind. Never give it another thought, Villiers, or you will
be sorry. You will think, no doubt, that I am in possession of
some secret information, and to a certain extent that is the
The Great God Pan |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Ursula by Honore de Balzac: here, in spite of the honor your visits are to me, and the pleasure I
should otherwise feel in cultivating your society. Tell your mother
that if I do not beg her, in my niece's name and my own, to do us the
honor of dining here next Sunday it is because I am very certain that
she would find herself indisposed on that day."
The old man held out his hand to the young viscount, who pressed it
respectfully, saying:--
"You are quite right, monsieur."
He then withdrew; but not without a bow to Ursula, in which there was
more of sadness than disappointment.
Desire left the house at the same time; but he found it impossible to
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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 Lamentable Tragedy of Locrine and Mucedorus by William Shakespeare: they fall together by the ears; she takes her pot and
goes out. Exit.]
[Enter Segasto.]
SEGASTO.
How now, sirra, what's the matter?
MOUSE.
Oh, flies, master, flies.
SEGASTO.
Flies? where are they?
MOUSE.
Oh here, master, all about your face.
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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 Intentions by Oscar Wilde: Goethe is greater than the debt we owe to any man since Greek days.
The Greeks saw it, and have left us, as their legacy to modern
thought, the conception of the contemplative life as well as the
critical method by which alone can that life be truly realised. It
was the one thing that made the Renaissance great, and gave us
Humanism. It is the one thing that could make our own age great
also; for the real weakness of England lies, not in incomplete
armaments or unfortified coasts, not in the poverty that creeps
through sunless lanes, or the drunkenness that brawls in loathsome
courts, but simply in the fact that her ideals are emotional and
not intellectual.
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