| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Ivanhoe by Walter Scott: the slaves black in order to obtain a striking effect of contrast,
and that, could he have derived a similar advantage from making
his heroine blue, blue she should have been.
I do not pretend to plead the immunities of my order so highly
as this; but neither will I allow that the author of a modern
antique romance is obliged to confine himself to the introduction
of those manners only which can be proved to have absolutely existed
in the times he is depicting, so that he restrain himself to
such as are plausible and natural, and contain no obvious anachronism.
In this point of view, what can be more natural, than
that the Templars, who, we know, copied closely the luxuries of
Ivanhoe |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Commission in Lunacy by Honore de Balzac: perfect loyalty, while it gave a singular look to his countenance.
This penthouse forehead might, in fact, hint at a touch of madness,
and his thick-knitted eyebrows added to the apparent eccentricity. He
had the white well-kept hands of a gentleman; his foot was high and
narrow. His hesitating speech--not merely as to his pronunciation,
which was that of a stammerer, but also in the expression of his
ideas, his thought and language--produced on the mind of the hearer
the impression of a man who, in familiar phraseology, comes and goes,
feels his way, tries everything, breaks off his gestures, and finishes
nothing. This defect was purely superficial, and in contrast with the
decisiveness of a firmly-set mouth, and the strongly-marked character
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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 The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin: with whom they had any dealings the nickname of the "Black
Brothers."
The youngest brother, Gluck, was as completely opposed, in
both appearance and character, to his seniors as could possibly
be imagined or desired. He was not above twelve years old, fair,
blue-eyed, and kind in temper to every living thing. He did not,
of course, agree particularly well with his brothers, or, rather,
they did not agree with HIM. He was usually appointed to the
honorable office of turnspit, when there was anything to roast,
which was not often, for, to do the brothers justice, they were
hardly less sparing upon themselves than upon other people. At
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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 The Tanach: Judges 7: 16 And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put into the hands of all of them horns, and empty pitchers, with torches within the pitchers.
Judges 7: 17 And he said unto them: 'Look on me, and do likewise; and, behold, when I come to the outermost part of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do.
Judges 7: 18 When I blow the horn, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the horns also on every side of all the camp, and say: For the LORD and for Gideon!'
Judges 7: 19 So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outermost part of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, when they had but newly set the watch; and they blew the horns, and broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands.
Judges 7: 20 And the three companies blew the horns, and broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and the horns in their right hands wherewith to blow; and they cried: 'The sword for the LORD and for Gideon!'
Judges 7: 21 And they stood every man in his place round about the camp; and all the host ran; and they shouted, and fled.
Judges 7: 22 And they blew the three hundred horns, and the LORD set every man's sword a against his fellow, even throughout all the host; and the host fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.
Judges 7: 23 And the men of Israel were gathered together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after Midian.
The Tanach |
