| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Symposium by Xenophon: [46] See "Il." xi. 831; "Hunting," ch. i., as to Cheiron and his
scholars, the last of whom is Achilles.
[47] {an periepoito}. "He will be scurvily treated." Cf. "Hell." III.
i. 19.
[48] Cf. "Mem." I. ii. 29.
If my language has a touch of turbulence,[49] do not marvel: partly
the wine exalts me; partly that love which ever dwells within my heart
of hearts now pricks me forward to use great boldness of speech[50]
against his base antagonist. Why, yes indeed, it seems to me that he
who fixes his mind on outward beauty is like a man who has taken a
farm on a short lease. He shows no anxiety to improve its value; his
The Symposium |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay: other matters, Mr. Lincoln, taking a graver tone, said:
"Gentlemen: I have, as you are aware, thought a great deal about
the relation of this war to slavery, and you all remember that
several weeks ago I read to you an order I had prepared on this
subject, which, on account of objections made by some of you, was
not issued. Ever since then my mind has been much occupied with
this subject, and I have thought, all along, that the time for
acting on it might probably come. I think the time has come now.
I wish it was a better time. I wish that we were in a better
condition. The action of the army against the rebels has not been
quite what I should have best liked. But they have been driven
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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 Oscar Wilde Miscellaneous by Oscar Wilde: greater abuse than any other of Wilde's works, and was consigned to
the usual irrevocable oblivion. The accuracy of the French was
freely canvassed, and of course it is obvious that the French is not
that of a Frenchman. The play was passed for press, however, by no
less a writer than Marcel Schwob whose letter to the Paris
publisher, returning the proofs and mentioning two or three slight
alterations, is still in my possession. Marcel Schwob told me some
years afterwards that he thought it would have spoiled the
spontaneity and character of Wilde's style if he had tried to
harmonise it with the diction demanded by the French Academy. It
was never composed with any idea of presentation. Madame Bernhardt
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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 My Aunt Margaret's Mirror by Walter Scott: fields have been devoted as sites for building. In that which is
nearest the town, wheelbarrows have been at work for several
weeks in such numbers, that, I verily believe, its whole surface,
to the depth of at least eighteen inches, was mounted in these
monotrochs at the same moment, and in the act of being
transported from one place to another. Huge triangular piles of
planks are also reared in different parts of the devoted
messuage; and a little group of trees that still grace the
eastern end, which rises in a gentle ascent, have just received
warning to quit, expressed by a daub of white paint, and are to
give place to a curious grove of chimneys.
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