| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Enemies of Books by William Blades: already noticed, should always be carefully examined.
When valuable books have been evil-entreated, when they have become
soiled by dirty hands, or spoiled by water stains, or injured
by grease spots, nothing is more astonishing to the uninitiated than
the transformation they undergo in the hands of a skilful restorer.
The covers are first carefully dissected, the eye of the operator
keeping a careful outlook for any fragments of old MSS.
or early printed books, which may have been used by the original binder.
No force should be applied to separate parts which adhere together;
a little warm water and care is sure to overcome that difficulty.
When all the sections are loose, the separate sheets are placed
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Last War: A World Set Free by H. G. Wells: the first empires and the first written laws had their
beginnings. Men specialised for fighting and rule as soldiers and
knights. Later, as ships grew seaworthy, the Mediterranean which
had been a barrier became a highway, and at last out of a tangle
of pirate polities came the great struggle of Carthage and Rome.
The history of Europe is the history of the victory and breaking
up of the Roman Empire. Every ascendant monarch in Europe up to
the last, aped Caesar and called himself Kaiser or Tsar or
Imperator or Kasir-i-Hind. Measured by the duration of human life
it is a vast space of time between that first dynasty in Egypt
and the coming of the aeroplane, but by the scale that looks back
The Last War: A World Set Free |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: they understand nothing at all; that those who say they see, are
sure to be blind; while those who confess that they are blind, are
sure some day to see. All we can do is, to keep up the childlike
heart, humble and teachable, though we grew as wise as Newton or
as Humboldt; and to follow, as good Socrates bids us, Reason
whithersoever it leads us, sure that it will never lead us wrong,
unless we have darkened it by hasty and conceited fancies of our
own, and so have become like those foolish men of old, of whom it
was said that the very light within them was darkness. But if we
love and reverence and trust Fact and Nature, which are the will,
not merely of Madam How, or even of Lady Why, but of Almighty God
|
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 Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen: odious of all. Their tendency is gross and illiberal;
and if their construction could ever be deemed clever,
time has long ago destroyed all its ingenuity."
Sir John did not much understand this reproof;
but he laughed as heartily as if he did, and then replied,
"Ay, you will make conquests enough, I dare say,
one way or other. Poor Brandon! he is quite smitten already,
and he is very well worth setting your cap at, I can
tell you, in spite of all this tumbling about and spraining
of ankles."
CHAPTER 10
Sense and Sensibility |
