| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin: toil of mercy; and their intellect from dispute of words to
discernment of things; and their knighthood from the errantry of
adventure to the state and fidelity of a kingly power. And then,
indeed, shall abide, for them and for us, an incorruptible felicity,
and an infallible religion; shall abide for us Faith, no more to be
assailed by temptation, no more to be defended by wrath and by
fear;--shall abide with us Hope, no more to be quenched by the years
that overwhelm, or made ashamed by the shadows that betray:- shall
abide for us, and with us, the greatest of these; the abiding will,
the abiding name of our Father. For the greatest of these is
Charity.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Aeneid by Virgil: Propitious now, and reconcil'd by pray'r;
Thou, God of War, whose unresisted sway
The labors and events of arms obey;
Ye living fountains, and ye running floods,
All pow'rs of ocean, all ethereal gods,
Hear, and bear record: if I fall in field,
Or, recreant in the fight, to Turnus yield,
My Trojans shall encrease Evander's town;
Ascanius shall renounce th' Ausonian crown:
All claims, all questions of debate, shall cease;
Nor he, nor they, with force infringe the peace.
Aeneid |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Poor and Proud by Oliver Optic: did her a similar favor, and she left the store well satisfied
with the visit. Pretty soon she came to a large piano-forte
manufactory, where she knew that a great many men were employed.
She went up-stairs to the counting-room, where she sold three
sticks, and was about to enter the work-room, when a sign, "No
admittance except on business," confronted her. Should she go on?
Did the sign refer to her? She had business there, but perhaps
they would not be willing to admit that her business was very
urgent, and she dreaded the indignity of being turned out again.
Her mother had told her there was always a right way and a wrong
way. It certainly was not right to enter in the face of a
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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 A Book of Remarkable Criminals by H. B. Irving: greatest of the many criminals who passed through his hands, one
who, in his own words, "met death with greater firmness" than any
man on whom he had officiated during seven years of Crown
employment.
The day of February the 25th broke bitterly cold. Like Charles
I. before him, Peace feared lest the extreme cold should make him
appear to tremble on the scaffold. He had slept calmly till six
o'clock in the morning. A great part of the two hours before the
coming of the hangman Peace spent in letter-writing. He wrote
two letters to his wife, in one of which he copied out some
verses he had written in Woking Prison on the death of their
A Book of Remarkable Criminals |
