| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Legend of Montrose by Walter Scott: had themselves manifested. Seventeen heads, the bloody trophies
of their vengeance, were distributed among the allies, and fed
the crows upon the gates of their castles. The survivors sought
out more distant wildernesses, to which they retreated."
"To your right hand, counter-march and retreat to your former
ground," said Captain Dalgetty; the military phrase having
produced the correspondent word of command; and then starting up,
professed he had been profoundly atttentive to every word that
had been spoken.
"It is the custom in summer," said Lord Menteith, without
attending to his apology, "to send the cows to the upland
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tao Teh King by Lao-tze: name it 'the Subtle.' With these three qualities, it cannot be made
the subject of description; and hence we blend them together and
obtain The One.
2. Its upper part is not bright, and its lower part is not obscure.
Ceaseless in its action, it yet cannot be named, and then it again
returns and becomes nothing. This is called the Form of the Formless,
and the Semblance of the Invisible; this is called the Fleeting and
Indeterminable.
3. We meet it and do not see its Front; we follow it, and do not see
its Back. When we can lay hold of the Tao of old to direct the things
of the present day, and are able to know it as it was of old in the
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