| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ballads by Robert Louis Stevenson: Dawn as yellow as sulphur leaped on the mountain height;
Dawn, in the deepest glen, fell a wonder of light;
High and clear stood the palms in the eye of the brightening east,
And lo! from the sides of the sea the broken sound of the feast!
As, when in days of summer, through open windows, the fly
Swift as a breeze and loud as a trump goes by,
But when frosts in the field have pinched the wintering mouse,
Blindly noses and buzzes and hums in the firelit house:
So the sound of the feast gallantly trampled at night,
So it staggered and drooped, and droned in the morning light.
IV. THE RAID
Ballads |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Prince Otto by Robert Louis Stevenson: business of escape in the best spirits possible. You used to say,
my dear, that, except as a husband and a prince, I was a pleasant
fellow. I am neither now, and you may like my company without
remorse. Come, then; it were idle to be captured. Can you still
walk? Forth, then,' said he, and he began to lead the way.
A little below where they stood, a good-sized brook passed below the
road, which overleapt it in a single arch. On one bank of that
loquacious water a foot-path descended a green dell. Here it was
rocky and stony, and lay on the steep scarps of the ravine; here it
was choked with brambles; and there, in fairy haughs, it lay for a
few paces evenly on the green turf. Like a sponge, the hillside
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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 Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: proudly as Alexander is made to contemplate Babylon in Lebrun's great
picture.
"Where are you going, Modeste?" asked the mother as her daughter rose
to leave the room.
"To get ready for your bedtime, mamma," answered Modeste, in a voice
as pure as the tones of an instrument.
"You haven't paid your expenses," said the dwarf to Dumay when he
returned.
"Modeste is as pure as the Virgin on our altar," cried Madame
Latournelle.
"Good God! such excitements wear me out," said Dumay; "and yet I'm a
Modeste Mignon |
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 My Aunt Margaret's Mirror by Walter Scott: The representation of Sir Philip Forester, now distinctly visible
in form and feature, was seen to lead on towards the clergyman
that beautiful girl, who advanced at once with diffidence and
with a species of affectionate pride. In the meantime, and just
as the clergyman had arranged the bridal company before him, and
seemed about to commence the service, another group of persons,
of whom two or three were officers, entered the church. They
moved, at first, forward, as though they came to witness the
bridal ceremony; but suddenly one of the officers, whose back was
towards the spectators, detached himself from his companions, and
rushed hastily towards the marriage party, when the whole of them
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