| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: demanded Bucklaw.
"Because I had changed my mind," said the Master, "and renounced
my enterprise, at least for the present. And now that I have
answered your questions fairly and frankly, tell me what makes
you associate with Craigengelt, so much beneath you both in
birth and in spirit?"
"In plain terms," answered Bucklaw, "because I am a fool, who
have gambled away my land in thse times. My grand-aunt, Lady
Girnington, has taen a new tack of life, I think, and I could
only hope to get something by a change of government. Craigie
was a sort of gambling acquaintance; he saw my condition, and, as
The Bride of Lammermoor |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Seraphita by Honore de Balzac: trembling and illuminated, like two children standing under shelter in
presence of a conflagration, That Life offered no lodgment to the
senses.
The ideas they used to interpret their vision to themselves were to
the things seen what the visible senses of a man are to his soul, the
material covering of a divine essence.
The departing SPIRIT was above them, shedding incense without odor,
melody without sound. About them, where they stood, were neither
surfaces, nor angles, nor atmosphere.
They dared neither question him nor contemplate him; they stood in the
shadow of that Presence as beneath the burning rays of a tropical sun,
Seraphita |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from La Grenadiere by Honore de Balzac: be to go out, poor orphan children, God knows where. I have made
Annette's future secure. She will have an annuity of a hundred crowns,
and she will stay at Tours no doubt. But what will you do for yourself
and your brother?"
She raised herself, and looked at the brave child, standing by her
bedside. There were drops of perspiration on his forehead, he was pale
with emotion, and his eyes were dim with tears.
"I have thought it over, mother," he answered in a deep voice. "I will
take Marie to the school here in Tours. I will give ten thousand
francs to our old Annette, and ask her to take care of them, and to
look after Marie. Then, with the remaining two thousand francs, I will
|
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 Father Sergius by Leo Tolstoy: 'Oh, don't speak of it. I am so bad that way, and have neglected
it so! I keep the fasts with the children and sometimes go to
church, and then again sometimes I don't go for months. I only
send the children.'
'But why don't you go yourself?'
'To tell the truth' (she blushed) 'I am ashamed, for my
daughter's sake and the children's, to go there in tattered
clothes, and I haven't anything else. Besides, I am just lazy.'
'And do you pray at home?'
'I do. But what sort of prayer is it? Only mechanical. I know
it should not be like that, but I lack real religious feeling.
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