| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Hiero by Xenophon: answered: How is it, Hiero, if to play the tyrant is a thing so
villainous,[19] and that is your final judgment, how comes it you are
not quit of so monstrous an evil? Neither you, nor, for that matter,
any monarch else I ever heard of, having once possessed the power, did
ever of his own free will divest himself of sovereignty. How is that,
Hiero?
[18] Cf. "Econ." xi. 1.
[19] Or, "if to monarchise and play the despot."
For one simple reason (the tyrant answered), and herein lies the
supreme misery of despotic power; it is not possible even to be quit
of it.[20] How could the life of any single tyrant suffice to square
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Camille by Alexandre Dumas: "As often as you like, from five to six, and from eleven to
twelve. Now, Gaston, play the Invitation A la Valse."
"Why?"
"To please me, first of all, and then because I never can manage
to play it myself."
"What part do you find difficult?"
"The third part, the part in sharps."
Gaston rose and went to the piano, and began to play the
wonderful melody of Weber, the music of which stood open before
him.
Marguerite, resting one hand on the piano, followed every note on
Camille |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Moran of the Lady Letty by Frank Norris: and then it was no longer water and blue heavens; the little craft
seemed to be poised in a vast crystalline sphere, where there was
neither height nor depth--poised motionless in warm, coruscating,
opalescent space, alone with the sun.
At length one morning the schooner, which for the preceding
twenty-four hours had been heading eastward, raised the land, and
by the middle of the afternoon had come up to within a mile of a
low, sandy shore, quivering with heat, and had tied up to the kelp
in Magdalena Bay.
Charlie now took over entire charge of operations. For two days
previous the Chinese hands had been getting out the deck-tubs,
|
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 Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Bronte Sisters: the ice of his shyness was fairly broken, I found to be a very
amiable, intelligent, and entertaining little fellow; and we soon
became excellent friends - how much to the gratification of his
mamma I cannot undertake to say. I suspected at first that she was
desirous of throwing cold water on this growing intimacy - to
quench, as it were, the kindling flame of our friendship - but
discovering, at length, in spite of her prejudice against me, that
I was perfectly harmless, and even well-intentioned, and that,
between myself and my dog, her son derived a great deal of pleasure
from the acquaintance that he would not otherwise have known, she
ceased to object, and even welcomed my coming with a smile.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall |
