| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death by Patrick Henry: will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do
opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my
sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony.
The questing before the House is one of awful moment to this country.
For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of
freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject
ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that
we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility
which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions
at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself
as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: to become the husband to my daughter, and also thereby the heir
of all my substance.' So the young man acquired the inheritance,
and surpassed all the famous and wealthy men of the land."
XVII.
Said Ioasaph unto Barlaam, "This story also fitly setteth forth
mine own estate. Whence also me thinketh that thou hadst me in
mind when thou spakest it. But what is the proof whereby thou
seekest to know the steadfastness of my purpose?"
Said the elder, "I have already proved thee, and know how wise
and steadfast is thy purpose, and how truly upright is thine
heart. But the end of thy fortune shall confirm it. For this
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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 Plutarch's Lives by A. H. Clough: After this came an embassy from the king of Parthia to him,
desiring amity and confederacy; which being readily embraced by
Lucullus, another was sent by him in return to the Parthian, the
members of which discovered him to be a double-minded man, and to
be dealing privately at the same time with Tigranes, offering to
take part with him, upon condition Mesopotamia were delivered up to
him. Which as soon as Lucullus understood, he resolved to pass by
Tigranes and Mithridates as antagonists already overcome, and to
try the power of Parthia, by leading his army against them,
thinking it would be a glorious result, thus in one current of war,
like an athlete in the games, to throw down three kings one after
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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 Alexandria and her Schools by Charles Kingsley: skylarks, on the bleakest northern moor as cheerfully as on the sunny
hills of Greece, and rise thence singing into the heaven of heavens, yet
they are hard to tempt into a gilded cage, however amusingly made and
plentifully stored with comforts. Royal societies, associations of
savants, and the like, are good for many things, but not for the
breeding of art and genius: for they are things which cannot be bred.
Such institutions are excellent for physical science, when, as among us
now, physical science is going on the right method: but where, as in
Alexandria, it was going on an utterly wrong method, they stereotype the
errors of the age, and invest them with the prestige of authority, and
produce mere Sorbonnes, and schools of pedants. To literature, too,
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