| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lock and Key Library by Julian Hawthorne, Ed.: "By roysterers who had been drinking at the taverns of the Barrier,
for it was Mid-Lent.
"By the sergeants of the watch, who eyed him sternly as he passed
near their halberds.
"But he passed on unmoved by their halberds,
"Unmoved by the cries of the roysterers,
"By the market women coming with their milk and eggs.
"He walked through the Rue St. Honore, I say:--
"By the Rue Rambuteau,
"By the Rue St. Antoine,
"By the King's Chateau of the Bastille,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Glinda of Oz by L. Frank Baum: and animals because they think slowly and haven't much
to talk about.
In the Lake of the Skeezers the fish of smaller size
were more active than the big ones and darted quickly
in and out among the swaying weeds, as if they had
important business and were in a hurry. It was among
the smaller varieties that Dorothy hoped to spy the
gold and silver and bronze fishes. She had an idea the
three would keep together, being companions now as they
were in their natural forms, but such a multitude of
fishes constantly passed, the scene shifting every
Glinda of Oz |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Enemies of Books by William Blades: to the observant reader, the original size of the book.
This same binder, on another occasion, placed a unique
fifteenth century Indulgence in warm water, to separate
it from the cover upon which it was pasted, the result
being that, when dry, it was so distorted as to be useless.
That man soon after passed to another world, where, we may hope,
his works have not followed him, and that his merits as a
good citizen and an honest man counterbalanced his de-merits
as a binder.
Other similar instances will occur to the memory of many a reader,
and doubtless the same sin will be committed from time to time
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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 Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence: against any sort of real authority. Fathers were ridiculous: his own
obstinate one supremely so. And governments were ridiculous: our own
wait-and-see sort especially so. And armies were ridiculous, and old
buffers of generals altogether, the red-faced Kitchener supremely. Even
the war was ridiculous, though it did kill rather a lot of people.
In fact everything was a little ridiculous, or very ridiculous:
certainly everything connected with authority, whether it were in the
army or the government or the universities, was ridiculous to a degree.
And as far as the governing class made any pretensions to govern, they
were ridiculous too. Sir Geoffrey, Clifford's father, was intensely
ridiculous, chopping down his trees, and weeding men out of his
Lady Chatterley's Lover |
