| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Talisman by Walter Scott: thou desirest it, noble Marquis, I will myself be your godfather
in this combat."
"And I also," said the Grand Master.
"Come, then, and take your nooning in our tent, noble sirs," said
the Duke, "and we'll speak of this business over some right
NIERENSTEIN."
They entered together accordingly.
"What said our patron and these great folks together?" said Jonas
Schwanker to his companion, the SPRUCH-SPRECHER, who had used the
freedom to press nigh to his master when the Council was
dismissed, while the jester waited at a more respectful distance.
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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 Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes: verses where the letter A or E or some other is omitted? No, -
they will bloom over and over again in poems as in the summer
fields, to the end of time, always old and always new. Why should
we be more shy of repeating ourselves than the spring be tired of
blossoms or the night of stars? Look at Nature. She never wearies
of saying over her floral pater-noster. In the crevices of
Cyclopean walls, - in the dust where men lie, dust also, - on the
mounds that bury huge cities, the wreck of Nineveh and the Babel-
heap, - still that same sweet prayer and benediction. The Amen! of
Nature is always a flower.
Are you tired of my trivial personalities, - those splashes and
 The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table |