| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Woman and Labour by Olive Schreiner: we master and rise above, or fall and are conquered by, the difficulties of
our position, so also will be the future, not merely of our own class, or
even of our own race alone, but also of those vast masses who are following
on in the wake of our civilisation. The decision we are called on to make
is a decision for the race; behind us comes on the tread of incalculable
millions of feet.
There is thus no truth in the assertion so often made, even by thoughtful
persons, that the male labour question and the woman's question of our day
are completely one, and that, would the women of the European race of today
but wait peacefully till the males alone had solved their problem, they
would find that their own had been solved at the same time.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Pathology of Lying, Etc. by William and Mary Healy: circle generally and were not merely given to us. Verification
of details would be very difficult because the family are
distributed between Europe and America, and no relatives outside
the immediate family are at hand. The mother was in excessively
poor condition at the birth of Annie. She had miscarriages
preceding and following. It is stated that the diagnosis of
malaria was made and that the mother had convulsions both before
and after confinement. At the birth the prolonged labor and
instrumentation were not known to have done any damage. As an
infant Annie is said to have been frail, but not to have had any
definite sickness or any convulsions.
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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 Paz by Honore de Balzac: immeasurable distance from the parvenus, the vulgarians, and the
speculators of the new regime.
This preamble is necessary to show the sphere in which was done one of
those noble actions, less rare than the calumniators of our time
admit,--actions which, like pearls, the fruit of pain and suffering,
are hidden within rough shells, lost in the gulf, the sea, the tossing
waves of what we call society, the century, Paris, London, St.
Petersburg,--or what you will.
If the axiom that architecture is the expression of manner and morals
was ever proved, it was certainly after the insurrection of 1830,
during the present reign of the house of Orleans. As all the old
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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 Royalty Restored/London Under Charles II by J. Fitzgerald Molloy: The worthy citizens, however, were not satisfied that their
rejoicements should end here, and "as soon as night came," says
Dr. Bate, "an artificial day was begun again, the whole city
seeming to be one great light, as, indeed, properly it was a
luminary of loyalty, the bonfires continuing till daybreak, fed
by a constant supply of wood, and maintained with an equal excess
of gladness and fewel." Wine flowed from public fountains,
volleys of shot were discharged from houses of the nobility,
drums and other musical instruments played in the streets,
citizens danced most joyfully in open places, and the effigy of
Cromwell was burned, together with the arms of the Commonwealth
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