| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Vailima Letters by Robert Louis Stevenson: which I mean to write a little differently from what I have
been doing - if I can hit the key; rather more of a
sentimental tremolo to it. It may thus help to prepare me
for SOPHIA, which is to contain three ladies, and a kind of a
love affair between the heroine and a dying planter who is a
poet! large orders for R. L. S.
O the German taboo is quite over; no soul attempts to support
the C. J. or the President, they are past hope; the whites
have just refused their taxes - I mean the council has
refused to call for them, and if the council consented,
nobody would pay; 'tis a farce, and the curtain is going to
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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 Dynamiter by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson: and tremble at your danger.'
'She has seen them!' he cried, and I could see by his face,
that my audacity was justified by its success.
I caught his hand in mine. 'My master,' said I, 'I am now
yours; it is my duty, it should be my pleasure, to defend
your interests and life. Hear my advice, then; and, I
conjure you, be guided by my prudence. Follow me privily;
let none see where we are going; I will lead you to the place
where the treasure has been buried; that once disinterred,
let us make straight for the boat, escape to the mainland,
and not return to this dangerous isle without the countenance
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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 Symposium by Plato: is the acknowledged ruler of the pleasures and desires, and no pleasure
ever masters Love; he is their master and they are his servants; and if he
conquers them he must be temperate indeed. As to courage, even the God of
War is no match for him; he is the captive and Love is the lord, for love,
the love of Aphrodite, masters him, as the tale runs; and the master is
stronger than the servant. And if he conquers the bravest of all others,
he must be himself the bravest. Of his courage and justice and temperance
I have spoken, but I have yet to speak of his wisdom; and according to the
measure of my ability I must try to do my best. In the first place he is a
poet (and here, like Eryximachus, I magnify my art), and he is also the
source of poesy in others, which he could not be if he were not himself a
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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 Hidden Masterpiece by Honore de Balzac: Porbus and Poussin, seized with wild curiosity, rushed into the middle
of a vast atelier filled with dust, where everything lay in disorder,
and where they saw a few paintings hanging here and there upon the
walls. They stopped before the figure of a woman, life-sized and half
nude, which filled them with eager admiration.
"Do not look at that," said Frenhofer, "it is only a daub which I made
to study a pose; it is worth nothing. Those are my errors," he added,
waving his hand towards the enchanting compositions on the walls
around them.
At these words Porbus and Poussin, amazed at the disdain which the
master showed for such marvels of art, looked about them for the
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