| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Maria, or the Wrongs of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft: it) the only chance for happiness in this disastrous world. George
Venables had the reputation of being attentive to business, and my
father's example gave great weight to this circumstance; for habits
of order in business would, he conceived, extend to the regulation
of the affections in domestic life. George seldom spoke in my
uncle's company, except to utter a short, judicious question, or
to make a pertinent remark, with all due deference to his superior
judgment; so that my uncle seldom left his company without observing,
that the young man had more in him than people supposed.
In this opinion he was not singular; yet, believe me, and I
am not swayed by resentment, these speeches so justly poized, this
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Underground City by Jules Verne: the dog he could not teach to be quiet, so the poor animal
very soon disappeared. My grandfather's companion was a
ferocious bird, Harfang, of which, at first, I had a perfect horror;
but this creature, in spite of my dislike to it, took such
a strong affection for me, that I could not help returning it.
It even obeyed me better than its master, which used to make me
quite uneasy, for my grandfather was jealous. Harfang and I
did not dare to let him see us much together; we both knew it
would be dangerous. But I am talking too much about myself:
the great thing is about you."
"No, my child," said James Starr, "tell us everything that comes
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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 Pagan and Christian Creeds by Edward Carpenter: that here again there are three sisters (the three stages of
human evolution), and the latest-born the most beautiful
of the three, and the jealousies and persecutions heaped on
the youngest by the others, and especially by Aphrodite the
goddess of mere sensual charm. And again the coming of
the unknown, the unseen Lover, on whom it is not permitted
for mortals to look; and the long, long tests and sufferings
and trials which Psyche has to undergo before Eros
may really take her to his arms and translate her to the
heights of heaven. Can we not imagine how when these
things were represented in the Mysteries the world flocked
Pagan and Christian Creeds |
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 Plutarch's Lives by A. H. Clough: place which his great services had made his due. The one, in spite of
the harm he occasioned, could not make himself hated, nor the other,
with all the admiration he attracted, succeed in being beloved by his
countrymen.
Coriolanus, moreover, it should be said, did not as a general obtain any
successes for his country, but only for his enemies against his country.
Alcibiades was often of service to Athens, both as a soldier and as a
commander. So long as he was personally present, he had the perfect
mastery of his political adversaries; calumny only succeeded in his
absence. Coriolanus was condemned in person at Rome; and in like manner
killed by the Volscians, not indeed with any right or justice, yet not
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