| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Phaedrus by Plato: tell lies: the coward should say that he was assaulted by more men than
one; the other should prove that they were alone, and should argue thus:
'How could a weak man like me have assaulted a strong man like him?' The
complainant will not like to confess his own cowardice, and will therefore
invent some other lie which his adversary will thus gain an opportunity of
refuting. And there are other devices of the same kind which have a place
in the system. Am I not right, Phaedrus?
PHAEDRUS: Certainly.
SOCRATES: Bless me, what a wonderfully mysterious art is this which Tisias
or some other gentleman, in whatever name or country he rejoices, has
discovered. Shall we say a word to him or not?
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: risen up suddenly on the outside of it; and he gave me leave (when
I told him that I was writing for children) to tell them what he
saw.
This new cone, he said, was about 200 feet high, and perhaps 80 or
100 feet across at the top. And as he stood below it (it was not
safe to go up it) smoke rolled up from its top, "rosy pink below,"
from the glare of the caldron, and above "faint greenish or
blueish silver of indescribable beauty, from the light of the
moon." But more--By good chance, the cone began to send out, not
smoke only, but brilliant burning stones. "Each explosion," he
says, "was like a vast girandole of rockets, with a noise (such as
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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 The Lock and Key Library by Julian Hawthorne, Ed.: appeared nugatory. The other feature brought to light on this
occasion was vouched for by one of the servants, who declared that,
the moment before the door of the kitchen was fastened upon herself
and fellow servant, she saw two men in the hall, one on the point
of ascending the stairs, the other making toward the kitchen; that
she could not distinguish the faces of either, but that both were
dressed in the academic costume belonging to the students of the
university. The consequences of such a declaration need scarcely
be mentioned. Suspicion settled upon the students, who were more
numerous since the general peace, in a much larger proportion
military, and less select or respectable than heretofore. Still,
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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 A Lover's Complaint by William Shakespeare: 'For lo! his passion, but an art of craft,
Even there resolv'd my reason into tears;
There my white stole of chastity I daff'd,
Shook off my sober guards, and civil fears;
Appear to him, as he to me appears,
All melting; though our drops this difference bore:
His poison'd me, and mine did him restore.
'In him a plenitude of subtle matter,
Applied to cautels, all strange forms receives,
Of burning blushes or of weeping water,
Or swooning paleness; and he takes and leaves,
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