| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from What is Man? by Mark Twain: from one who had an intimate acquaintance with legal proceedings.
We quite agree with Mr. Castle that Shakespeare's legal knowledge
is not what could have been picked up in an attorney's office,
but could only have been learned by an actual attendance at the
Courts, at a Pleader's Chambers, and on circuit, or by
associating intimately with members of the Bench and Bar."
This is excellent. But what is Mr. Collins's explanation?
"Perhaps the simplest solution of the problem is to accept the
hypothesis that in early life he was in an attorney's office (!),
that he there contracted a love for the law which never left him,
that as a young man in London he continued to study or dabble in
What is Man? |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Two Brothers by Honore de Balzac: was sitting by the bedside of his penitent, took her hand and pressed
it, and then he answered, "Alas! my child, you have never had but one
son."
The words, which Agathe understood but too well, conveyed a shock
which was the beginning of the end. She died twenty hours later.
In the delirium which preceded death, the words, "Whom does Philippe
take after?" escaped her.
Joseph followed his mother to the grave alone. Philippe had gone, on
business it was said, to Orleans; in reality, he was driven from Paris
by the following letter, which Joseph wrote to him a moment after
their mother had breathed her last sigh:--
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Voyage to Abyssinia by Father Lobo: induced us to think was Baylur; that we might be farther assured we
sent our Abyssin on shore, who returning next morning confirmed our
opinion. It would not be easy to determine whether our arrival gave
us greater joy, or the inhabitants greater apprehensions, for we
could discern a continual tumult in the land, and took notice that
the crews of some barks that lay in the harbour were unlading with
all possible diligence, to prevent the cargo from falling into our
hands, very much indeed to the dissatisfaction of many of our
soldiers, who having engaged in this expedition, with no other view
than of filling their pockets, were, before the return of our
Abyssin, for treating them like enemies, and taking them as a lawful
|
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 Spirit of the Border by Zane Grey: thrilled him.
Moments, passed--to him long as hours. He saw a tall fern waver and tremble. A
rabbit, or perhaps a snake, had brushed it. Other ferns moved, their tops
agitated, perhaps, by a faint breeze. No; that wavering line came straight
toward him; it could not be the wind; it marked the course of a creeping,
noiseless thing. It must be a panther crawling nearer and nearer.
Joe opened his lips to awaken his captors, but could not speak; it was as if
his heart had stopped beating. Twenty feet away the ferns were parted to
disclose a white, gleaming face, with eyes that seemingly glittered. Brawny
shoulders were upraised, and then a tall, powerful man stood revealed. Lightly
he stepped over the leaves into the little glade. He bent over the sleeping
The Spirit of the Border |
