| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Manon Lescaut by Abbe Prevost: power of interesting anyone in my favour; I expect nothing more
either from fortune or the friendship of man; my misery is at its
height; it only remains for me to submit, so that I close my eyes
henceforward against every gleam of hope. May Heaven,' I
continued, `reward you for your generosity! Adieu! I shall go
and aid my wretched destiny in filling up the full measure of my
ruin!' He, in vain, endeavoured to persuade me to return with
him to Paris. I entreated him to leave me at once, lest the
police should still suspect us of an intention to attack them.
XII
The pauses and intermissions of pain become positive pleasures;
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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 Passionate Pilgrim by William Shakespeare: Thou lovest to bear the sweet melodious sound
That Phoebus' lute, the queen of music, makes;
And I in deep delight am chiefly drown'd
Whenas himself to singing he betakes.
One god is god of both, as poets feign;
One knight loves both, and both in thee remain.
IX.
Fair was the morn when the fair queen of love,
* * * * * *
Paler for sorrow than her milk-white dove,
For Adon's sake, a youngster proud and wild;
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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 Historical Lecturers and Essays by Charles Kingsley: druggist's son. Pellicier, his own bishop, stood godfather to his
first-born daughter. Montluc, Bishop of Valence, and that wise and
learned statesman, the Cardinal of Tournon, stood godfathers a few
years later to his twin boys; and what was of still more solid worth
to him, Cardinal Tournon took him to Antwerp, Bordeaux, Bayonne, and
more than once to Rome; and in these Italian journeys of his he
collected many facts for the great work of his life, that "History
of Fishes" which he dedicated, naturally enough, to the cardinal.
This book with its plates is, for the time, a masterpiece of
accuracy. Those who are best acquainted with the subject say, that
it is up to the present day a key to the whole ichthyology of the
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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 Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard: my country and to war against the Teules. I will make no peace
with them, I will take no rest till they are driven back whence
they came, or till I am dead beneath their swords. None can say
what the gods have in store for us, it may be victory or it may be
destruction, but be it triumph or death, let us swear a great oath
together, my people and my brethren. Let us swear to fight the
Teules and the traitors who abet them, for our cities, our hearths
and our altars; till the cities are a smoking ruin, till the
hearths are cumbered with their dead, and the altars run red with
the blood of their worshippers. So, if we are destined to conquer,
our triumph shall be made sure, and if we are doomed to fail, at
Montezuma's Daughter |
