| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Historical Lecturers and Essays by Charles Kingsley: now, he got his deserts; and the world bought him at his own price.
If he chose to sell himself to this patron and to that, he was used
and thrown away: if he chose to remain in honourable independence,
he was courted and feared.
Among the successful scholars of the sixteenth century, none surely
is more notable than George Buchanan. The poor Scotch widow's son,
by force of native wit, and, as I think, by force of native worth,
fights his way upward, through poverty and severest persecution, to
become the correspondent and friend of the greatest literary
celebrities of the Continent, comparable, in their opinion, to the
best Latin poets of antiquity; the preceptor of princes; the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Statesman by Plato: owner, the retailer, will not put in any claim to statecraft or politics?
YOUNG SOCRATES: No; unless, indeed, to the politics of commerce.
STRANGER: But surely men whom we see acting as hirelings and serfs, and
too happy to turn their hand to anything, will not profess to share in
royal science?
YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly not.
STRANGER: But what would you say of some other serviceable officials?
YOUNG SOCRATES: Who are they, and what services do they perform?
STRANGER: There are heralds, and scribes perfected by practice, and divers
others who have great skill in various sorts of business connected with the
government of states--what shall we call them?
Statesman |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Ursula by Honore de Balzac: pecuniary position. It is all the more to be regretted because
Savinien has, for the moment, tied our hands by allowing the
authorities to arrest him.
If my nephew had not shown a foolish passion for me and sacrificed
our relationship to the vanity of a lover, we could have sent him
to travel in Germany while his affairs were being settled here.
Monsieur de Kergarouet intended to get him a place in the War
office; but this imprisonment for debt will paralyze such efforts.
You must pay his debts; let him enter the navy; he will make his
way like the true Portenduere that he is; he has the fire of the
family in his beautiful black eyes, and we will all help him.
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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 The Talisman by Walter Scott: sound of the harp she once loved?"
"She thanks Blondel for his lay," replied Edith, "but doubly the
kindness of the kinsman who suggested it."
"Thou art angry, cousin," said the King; "angry because thou hast
heard of a woman more wayward than thyself. But you escape me
not. I will walk a space homeward with you towards the Queen's
pavilion. We must have conference together ere the night has
waned into morning."
The Queen and her attendants were now on foot, and the other
guests withdrew from the royal tent. A train with blazing
torches, and an escort of archers, awaited Berengaria without the
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