| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lesson of the Master by Henry James: incomparable tone produced by dimly-gilt "backs" interrupted here
and there by the suspension of old prints and drawings. At the end
furthest from the door of admission was a tall desk, of great
extent, at which the person using it could write only in the erect
posture of a clerk in a counting-house; and stretched from the
entrance to this structure was a wide plain band of crimson cloth,
as straight as a garden-path and almost as long, where, in his
mind's eye, Paul at once beheld the Master pace to and fro during
vexed hours - hours, that is, of admirable composition. The
servant gave him a coat, an old jacket with a hang of experience,
from a cupboard in the wall, retiring afterwards with the garment
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Apology by Plato: citizens by whom they might be taught for nothing, and come to them whom
they not only pay, but are thankful if they may be allowed to pay them.
There is at this time a Parian philosopher residing in Athens, of whom I
have heard; and I came to hear of him in this way:--I came across a man who
has spent a world of money on the Sophists, Callias, the son of Hipponicus,
and knowing that he had sons, I asked him: 'Callias,' I said, 'if your two
sons were foals or calves, there would be no difficulty in finding some one
to put over them; we should hire a trainer of horses, or a farmer probably,
who would improve and perfect them in their own proper virtue and
excellence; but as they are human beings, whom are you thinking of placing
over them? Is there any one who understands human and political virtue?
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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 The Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs:
So surprised and horrified was Solan that he forgot to finish
his thrust; instead, he wheeled toward the switch with a loud shriek--
a shriek which was his last, for before his hand could touch the
lever it sought, my sword's point had passed through his heart.
THE TIDE OF BATTLE
The Warlord of Mars |
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 Professor by Charlotte Bronte: might have aided him in the solution of the enigma; at any rate I
soon found that the uncertainty of doubt had vanished from his
manner; renouncing all pretence of friendship and cordiality, he
adopted a reserved, formal, but still scrupulously polite
deportment. This was the point to which I had wished to bring
him, and I was now again comparatively at my ease. I did not, it
is true, like my position in his house; but being freed from the
annoyance of false professions and double-dealing I could endure
it, especially as no heroic sentiment of hatred or jealousy of
the director distracted my philosophical soul; he had not, I
found, wounded me in a very tender point, the wound was so soon
The Professor |
