| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Virginibus Puerisque by Robert Louis Stevenson: portraits are racier than many anecdotes, and more complete
than many a volume of sententious memoirs. You can see
whether you get a stronger and clearer idea of Robertson the
historian from Raeburn's palette or Dugald Stewart's woolly
and evasive periods. And then the portraits are both signed
and countersigned. For you have, first, the authority of the
artist, whom you recognise as no mean critic of the looks and
manners of men; and next you have the tacit acquiescence of
the subject, who sits looking out upon you with inimitable
innocence, and apparently under the impression that he is in a
room by himself. For Raeburn could plunge at once through all
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from 'Twixt Land & Sea by Joseph Conrad: "Yes; disease," I admitted in a cheerful tone which seemed to shock
him. But my point was gained, because he had to raise his voice to
give me his tale. It is not worth while to record that version.
It was just over two months since all this had happened, and he had
thought so much about it that he seemed completely muddled as to
its bearings, but still immensely impressed.
"What would you think of such a thing happening on board your own
ship? I've had the Sephora for these fifteen years. I am a well-
known shipmaster."
He was densely distressed - and perhaps I should have sympathised
with him if I had been able to detach my mental vision from the
'Twixt Land & Sea |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Don Quixote by Miquel de Cervantes: cut off and fallen on one side, and it is as big as a large
wine-skin."
"May I die," said the landlord at this, "if Don Quixote or Don Devil
has not been slashing some of the skins of red wine that stand full at
his bed's head, and the spilt wine must be what this good fellow takes
for blood;" and so saying he went into the room and the rest after
him, and there they found Don Quixote in the strangest costume in
the world. He was in his shirt, which was not long enough in front
to cover his thighs completely and was six fingers shorter behind; his
legs were very long and lean, covered with hair, and anything but
clean; on his head he had a little greasy red cap that belonged to the
Don Quixote |
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 Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy: hospital filled with syphilitic patients that I would take a
young man to deprive him of the desire for women, but into my
soul, to show him the demon which tore it. The frightful part
was that I recognized in myself an indisputable right to the body
of my wife, as if her body were entirely mine. And at the same
time I felt that I could not possess this body, that it was not
mine, that she could do with it as she liked, and that she liked
to do with it as I did not like. And I was powerless against him
and against her. He, like the Vanka of the song, would sing,
before mounting the gallows, how he would kiss her sweet lips,
etc., and he would even have the best of it before death. With
The Kreutzer Sonata |
