| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Book of Remarkable Criminals by H. B. Irving: L90, which he had given him personally, and represented the
Doctor as having at their interview promised to cancel the
mortgage on the collection of minerals which Webster had given as
security for the loan of L490 that had been subscribed by
Parkman and four of his friends. Now L120 of this loan was
still owing. If Webster's statement were true, Parkman had a
perfect right to cancel Webster's personal debt to himself; but
he had no right to cancel entirely the mortgage on the minerals,
so long as money due to others on that mortgage was yet unpaid.
Was it conceivable that one so strict and scrupulous in all
monetary transactions as Parkman would have settled his own
A Book of Remarkable Criminals |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Children of the Night by Edwin Arlington Robinson: Of what some unborn year may show;
But mind your human debts are paid,
As one by one the phantoms go.
ENVOY
Life is the game that must be played:
This truth at least, good friend, we know;
So live and laugh, nor be dismayed
As one by one the phantoms go.
Ballade of Broken Flutes
(To A. T. Schumann.)
In dreams I crossed a barren land,
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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 Alexandria and her Schools by Charles Kingsley: that he who renders up his animal life as a worthless thing, in the
cause of duty, commits his real and human life, his very soul and self,
into the hands of a just and merciful Father, who has promised to leave
no good deed unrewarded, and least of all that most noble deed, the
dying like a man for the sake not merely of this land of England, but of
the freedom and national life of half the world.
LECTURE I--THE PTOLEMAIC ERA
Before I begin to lecture upon the Physical and Metaphysical schools of
Alexandria, it may be better, perhaps, to define the meaning of these
two epithets. Physical, we shall all agree, means that which belongs to
[Greek text: phusis]; natura; nature, that which [Greek text:
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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 Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen: its wings fluttered. "Kiss it," cried the little girl, and flung the pigeon in
Gerda's face. "Up there is the rabble of the wood, continued she, pointing to
several laths which were fastened before a hole high up in the wall; "that's
the rabble; they would all fly away immediately, if they were not well
fastened in. And here is my dear old Bac"; and she laid hold of the horns of a
reindeer, that had a bright copper ring round its neck, and was tethered to
the spot. "We are obliged to lock this fellow in too, or he would make his
escape. Every evening I tickle his neck with my sharp knife; he is so
frightened at it!" and the little girl drew forth a long knife, from a crack
in the wall, and let it glide over the Reindeer's neck. The poor animal
kicked; the girl laughed, and pulled Gerda into bed with her.
Fairy Tales |
