| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Complete Angler by Izaak Walton: which we now see glide so quietly by us. Indeed, my good scholar, we
may say of angling, as Dr. Boteler said of strawberries, " Doubtless God
could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did "; and so,
if I might be judge, God never did make a more calm, quiet, innocent
recreation than angling.
I'll tell you, scholar; when I sat last on this primrose-bank, and looked
down these meadows, I thought of them as Charles the emperor did of
the city of Florence: " That they were too pleasant to be looked on, but
only on holy-days ". As I then sat on this very grass, I turned my present
thoughts into verse: 'twas a Wish, which I'll repeat to you:-
The Angler's wish.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Jerusalem Delivered by Torquato Tasso: And forth to greedy seas his streams he sent,
And so his waves, his name, himself he spent.
IX
The wondrous boat scant touched the troubled main
But all the sea still, hushed and quiet was,
Vanished the clouds, ceased the wind and rain,
The tempests threatened overblow and pass,
A gentle breathing air made even and plain
The azure face of heaven's smooth looking-glass,
And heaven itself smiled from the skies above
With a calm clearness on the earth his love.
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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 Camille by Alexandre Dumas: soul and in the shadow of their sick-room, only wanted to die
soon!
January 10.
The hope of getting better was only a dream. I am back in bed
again, covered with plasters which burn me. If I were to offer
the body that people paid so dear for once, how much would they
give, I wonder, to-day?
We must have done something very wicked before we were born, or
else we must be going to be very happy indeed when we are dead,
for God to let this life have all the tortures of expiation and
all the sorrows of an ordeal.
Camille |
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 Altar of the Dead by Henry James: All he could say, however, was: "I hope you'll try before you give
up."
"If I had known you had ever known him I should have taken for
granted he had his candle," she presently answered. "What's
changed, as you say, is that on making the discovery I find he
never has had it. That makes MY attitude" - she paused as thinking
how to express it, then said simply - "all wrong."
"Come once again," he pleaded.
"Will you give him his candle?" she asked.
He waited, but only because it would sound ungracious; not because
of a doubt of his feeling. "I can't do that!" he declared at last.
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