| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Bronte Sisters: to offer my services to Mrs. Graham to carry her apparatus up the
fields, but she had already hung her camp-stool on her arm and
taken her sketch-book in her hand, and insisted upon bidding me
adieu then and there, with the rest of the company. But this time
she declined my proffered aid in so kind and friendly a manner that
I almost forgave her.
CHAPTER VIII
Six weeks had passed away. It was a splendid morning about the
close of June. Most of the hay was cut, but the last week had been
very unfavourable; and now that fine weather was come at last,
being determined to make the most of it, I had gathered all hands
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: does not make a bad or good builder, but a good or bad builder
makes a good or bad house. And in general no work makes the
workman such as it is itself; but the workman makes the work such
as he is himself. Such is the case, too, with the works of men.
Such as the man himself is, whether in faith or in unbelief, such
is his work: good if it be done in faith; bad if in unbelief. But
the converse is not true that, such as the work is, such the man
becomes in faith or in unbelief. For as works do not make a
believing man, so neither do they make a justified man; but
faith, as it makes a man a believer and justified, so also it
makes his works good.
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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 Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock: "In the very best of company," said the friar, "in the high
court of Nature, and in the midst of her own nobility.
Is it not so? This goodly grove is our palace:
the oak and the beech are its colonnade and its canopy:
the sun and the moon and the stars are its everlasting lamps:
the grass, and the daisy, and the primrose, and the violet,
are its many-coloured floor of green, white, yellow, and blue;
the may-flower, and the woodbine, and the eglantine, and the ivy,
are its decorations, its curtains, and its tapestry: the lark,
and the thrush, and the linnet, and the nightingale, are its
unhired minstrels and musicians. Robin Hood is king of the forest
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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 Pellucidar by Edgar Rice Burroughs: without the knowledge, which you alone may wield, to
guide them toward the wonderful civilization of which
you have told me so much that I long for its comforts
and luxuries as I never before longed for anything.
"No, David; the Mahars cannot harm us if you are at
liberty. Let them have their secret that you and I may
return to our people, and lead them to the conquest of
all Pellucidar."
It was plain that Dian was ambitious, and that her
ambition had not dulled her reasoning faculties. She was
right. Nothing could be gained by remaining bottled up
Pellucidar |
