| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Sportsman by Xenophon: Schneider's question: Quidni sensum eundem servavit homo
religiosus in hinnulis?
[5] "The fawns (of the roe deer) are born in the spring, usually early
in May," Lydekker, "R. N. H." ii. p. 383; of the red deer
"generally in the early part of June," ib. 346.
[6] {orgadas} = "gagnages," du Fouilloux, "Comment le veneur doit
aller en queste aux taillis ou gaignages pour voir le cerf a
veue," ap. Talbot, op. cit. i. p. 331.
[7] Or, "off the wood."
[8] It seems they were not trained to restrain themselves.
[9] Or, "set himself to observe from some higher place." Cf. Aristoph.
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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 Figure in the Carpet by Henry James: twaddle" - my acute little study! That one's admiration should
have had a reserve or two could gall him to that point! I had
thought him placid, and he was placid enough; such a surface was
the hard polished glass that encased the bauble of his vanity. I
was really ruffled, and the only comfort was that if nobody saw
anything George Corvick was quite as much out of it as I. This
comfort however was not sufficient, after the ladies had dispersed,
to carry me in the proper manner - I mean in a spotted jacket and
humming an air - into the smoking-room. I took my way in some
dejection to bed; but in the passage I encountered Mr. Vereker, who
had been up once more to change, coming out of his room. HE was
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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 Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: received from her a history of her adventure at the Pyramid, and of
the time passed in the Arab's island. She told her tale with ease
and elegance, and her conversation took possession of his heart.
The discourse was then turned to astronomy. Pekuah displayed what
she knew. He looked upon her as a prodigy of genius, and entreated
her not to desist from a study which she had so happily begun.
They came again and again, and were every time more welcome than
before. The sage endeavoured to amuse them, that they might
prolong their visits, for he found his thoughts grow brighter in
their company; the clouds of solitude vanished by degrees as he
forced himself to entertain them, and he grieved when he was left,
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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 Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin: we have got into a loose way of using it. It means literally the
standing and stability of a thing; and you have the full force of it
in the derived word "statue"--"the immovable thing." A king's
majesty or "state," then, and the right of his kingdom to be called
a state, depends on the movelessness of both:- without tremor,
without quiver of balance; established and enthroned upon a
foundation of eternal law which nothing can alter, nor overthrow.
Believing that all literature and all education are only useful so
far as they tend to confirm this calm, beneficent, and THEREFORE
kingly, power--first, over ourselves, and, through ourselves, over
all around us,--I am now going to ask you to consider with me
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