| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: and, at the Prince's request, entered with them. They placed him
in the seat of honour, and set wine and conserves before him.
"Sir," said the Princess, "an evening walk must give to a man of
learning like you pleasures which ignorance and youth can hardly
conceive. You know the qualities and the causes of all that you
behold - the laws by which the river flows, the periods in which
the planets perform their revolutions. Everything must supply you
with contemplation, and renew the consciousness of your own
dignity."
"Lady," answered he, "let the gay and the vigorous expect pleasure
in their excursions: it is enough that age can attain ease. To me
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence: spite of the illustrated papers. No, no! There's nothing organically
wrong, but it won't do! It won't do! Tell Sir Clifford he's got to
bring you to town, or take you abroad, and amuse you. You've got to be
amused, got to! Your vitality is much too low; no reserves, no
reserves. The nerves of the heart a bit queer already: oh, yes! Nothing
but nerves; I'd put you right in a month at Cannes or Biarritz. But it
mustn't go on, MUSTN'T, I tell you, or I won't be answerable for
consequences. You're spending your life without renewing it. You've got
to be amused, properly, healthily amused. You're spending your vitality
without making any. Can't go on, you know. Depression! Avoid
depression!'
Lady Chatterley's Lover |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Facino Cane by Honore de Balzac: flight with me; but after six months of happiness she wished only to
die with me, and received several thrusts. I was entangled in a great
cloak that they flung over me, carried down to a gondola, and hurried
to the Pozzi dungeons. I was twenty-two years old. I gripped the hilt
of my broken sword so hard, that they could only have taken it from me
by cutting off my hand at the wrist. A curious chance, or rather the
instinct of self-preservation, led me to hide the fragment of the
blade in a corner of my cell, as if it might still be of use. They
tended me; none of my wounds were serious. At two-and-twenty one can
recover from anything. I was to lose my head on the scaffold. I
shammed illness to gain time. It seemed to me that the canal lay just
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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 Works of Samuel Johnson by Samuel Johnson: imagine, that the diligence of one day will atone
for the idleness of another, and that applause begun
by approbation will be continued by habit.
He that is himself weary will soon weary the
publick. Let him therefore lay down his employment,
whatever it be, who can no longer exert
his former activity or attention; let him not
endeavour to struggle with censure, or obstinately
infest the stage till a general hiss commands him
to depart.
No. 208. SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 1752
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