| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Odyssey by Homer: writer, if he was borrowing from the "Iliad," would have stuck
to his borrowing.
{33} cf. "Il." xxiv. 587,588 where the lines refer to the washing
the dead body of Hector.
{34} See illustration on opposite page. The yard is typical of
many that may be seen in Sicily. The existing ground-plan is
probably unmodified from Odyssean, and indeed long pre-Odyssean
times, but the earlier buildings would have no arches, and
would, one would suppose, be mainly timber. The Odyssean [Greek]
were the sheds that ran round the yard as the arches do now. The
[Greek] was the one through which the main entrance passed, and
The Odyssey |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: church. At the end of the first part, the royal family with their
royal guests, the Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, and the Grand
Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Weimar went to the grand dining-room and
supped by themselves, with their suites, while another elegant
refreshment table was spread in another apartment for the other
guests. . . . Jenny Lind a little disappointed me, I must confess,
but they tell me that her songs were not adapted on that evening to
the display of her voice.
On Sunday evening your father dined with Baron Brunnow, the Russian
Minister, to meet the Grand Duke Constantine. It so happened that
the Grand Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Weimar appointed an audience to
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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 'Twixt Land & Sea by Joseph Conrad: "No, sir. Not much," he assented, sleepily, in his hoarse voice,
with just enough deference, no more, and barely suppressing a yawn.
"Well, that's all you have to look out for. You have got your
orders."
"Yes, sir."
I paced a turn or two on the poop and saw him take up his position
face forward with his elbow in the ratlines of the mizzen-rigging
before I went below. The mate's faint snoring was still going on
peacefully. The cuddy lamp was burning over the table on which
stood a vase with flowers, a polite attention from the ship's
provision merchant - the last flowers we should see for the next
'Twixt Land & Sea |
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 Mayflower Compact: the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country,
a Voyage to plant the first colony in the Northerne Parts
of Virginia; doe, by these Presents, solemnly and mutually
in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and
combine ourselves together into a civill Body Politick,
for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance
of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof do enact,
constitute, and frame, such just and equall Laws, Ordinances,
Acts, Constitutions, and Offices, from time to time,
as shall be thought most meete and convenient for the
Generall Good of the Colonie; unto which we promise
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