| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin: I begin with it, and shall end with it--only one pure kind of
kingship; an inevitable and eternal kind, crowned or not; the
kingship, namely, which consists in a stronger moral state, and a
truer thoughtful state, than that of others; enabling you,
therefore, to guide, or to raise them. Observe that word "State;"
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
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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 Black Dwarf by Walter Scott: courage in doing so. To be sure he had little chance of meeting
anything more ugly than himself. At heart, he was superstitious,
and planted many rowans (mountain ashes) around his hut, as a
certain defence against necromancy. For the same reason,
doubtless, he desired to have rowan-trees set above his grave.
We have stated that David Ritchie loved objects of natural
beauty. His only living favourites were a dog and a cat, to
which he was particularly attached, and his bees, which he
treated with great care. He took a sister, latterly, to live in
a hut adjacent to his own, but he did not permit her to enter it.
She was weak in intellect, but not deformed in person; simple, or
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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 Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: nearly down, to the harder freestone rocks which run along on our
left hand, miles away; and so she scooped out this great vale,
which we call here the Vale of White Horse; and further on, the
Vale of Aylesbury; and then the Bedford Level; and then the dear
ugly old Fens.
Is this the Vale of White Horse? Oh, I know about it; I have read
The Scouring of the White Horse.
Of course you have; and when you are older you will read a jollier
book still,--Tom Brown's School Days--and when we have passed
Swindon, we shall see some of the very places described in it,
close on our right.
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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 Vailima Prayers & Sabbath Morn by Robert Louis Stevenson: say, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass
against us."'
It is with natural reluctance that I touch upon the last prayer of
my husband's life. Many have supposed that he showed, in the
wording of this prayer, that he had some premonition of his
approaching death. I am sure he had no such premonition. It was I
who told the assembled family that I felt an impending disaster
approaching nearer and nearer. Any Scot will understand that my
statement was received seriously. It could not be, we thought,
that danger threatened any one within the house; but Mr. Graham
Balfour, my husband's cousin, very near and dear to us, was away on
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