| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Hiero by Xenophon: invent some subtle mischief;[2] the just and upright, lest the
multitude should take a fancy to be led by them.
[1] The same epithets occur in Aristoph. "Plut." 89:
{ego gar on meirakion epeiles' oti
os tous dikaious kai sophous kai kosmious
monous badioimen.}
Stob. gives for {kasmious} {alkimous}.
[2] Or, "for fear of machinations." But the word is suggestive of
mechanical inventions also, like those of Archimedes in connection
with a later Hiero (see Plut. "Marcel." xv. foll.); or of
Lionardo, or of Michael Angelo (Symonds, "Renaissance in Italy,"
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Edingburgh Picturesque Notes by Robert Louis Stevenson: them, and make the hills howl around their cottage with a
clamour like the judgment-day.
The road goes down through another valley, and then
finally begins to scale the main slope of the Pentlands.
A bouquet of old trees stands round a white farmhouse;
and from a neighbouring dell, you can see smoke rising
and leaves ruffling in the breeze. Straight above, the
hills climb a thousand feet into the air. The
neighbourhood, about the time of lambs, is clamorous with
the bleating of flocks; and you will be awakened, in the
grey of early summer mornings, by the barking of a dog or
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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 Democracy In America, Volume 1 by Alexis de Toqueville: It must not be imagined that the piety of the Puritans was
of a merely speculative kind, or that it took no cognizance of
the course of worldly affairs. Puritanism, as I have already
remarked, was scarcely less a political than a religious
doctrine. No sooner had the emigrants landed on the barren coast
described by Nathaniel Morton than it was their first care to
constitute a society, by passing the following Act:
"In the name of God. Amen. We, whose names are
underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King
James, etc., etc., Having undertaken for the glory of God, and
advancement of the Christian Faith, and the honour of our King
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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 Main Street by Sinclair Lewis: kept on, and she serenely talked about God, whose voice, Hugh
asserted, made the humming in the telegraph wires. Erik
stared, straightened. They greeted each other with "Hello."
"Hugh, say how-do-you-do to Mr. Valborg."
"Oh, dear me, he's got a button unbuttoned," worried Erik,
kneeling. Carol frowned, then noted the strength with which
he swung the baby in the air.
"May I walk along a piece with you?"
"I'm tired. Let's rest on those ties. Then I must be trotting
back."
They sat on a heap of discarded railroad ties, oak logs
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