| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Droll Stories, V. 1 by Honore de Balzac: well with the bridge, and at the end of which is a finer fair ground.
A street well paved, well built, well washed, as clean as a glass,
populous, silent at certain times, a coquette with a sweet nightcap on
its pretty blue tiles--to be short, it is the street where I was born;
it is the queen of streets, always between the earth and sky; a street
with a fountain; a street which lacks nothing to be celebrated among
streets; and, in fact, it is the real street, the only street of
Tours. If there are others, they are dark, muddy, narrow, and damp,
and all come respectfully to salute this noble street, which commands
them. Where am I? For once in this street no one cares to come out of
it, so pleasant it is. But I owed this filial homage, this descriptive
Droll Stories, V. 1 |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: mingle in the strife. It is therefore a stupid criticism which we
have seen made upon Mr. Motley, that, having brought his
narrative down to the truce of 1609, he ought, instead of
describing the Thirty Years' War, to keep on with Dutch history,
and pourtray the wars against Cromwell and Charles II., and the
struggle of the second William of Orange against Louis XIV. By so
doing he would only violate the unity of his narrative. The wars
of the Dutch against England and France belong to an entirely
different epoch in European history,--a modern epoch, in which
political and commercial interests were of prime importance, and
theological interests distinctly subsidiary. The natural terminus
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain: bluish tint; but in order to get cream from it in the
most economical way, a peculiar process was necessary.
Now he believed that the habit of the ancients was to collect
several milkings in a teacup, pour it into the Great Tun,
fill up with water, and then skim off the cream from
time to time as the needs of the German Empire demanded.
This began to look reasonable. It certainly began
to account for the German cream which I had encountered
and marveled over in so many hotels and restaurants.
But a thought struck me--
"Why did not each ancient dairyman take his own teacup
|
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 Two Noble Kinsmen by William Shakespeare: Then the beast eating Clowne, and next the foole,
The Bavian, with long tayle and eke long toole,
Cum multis alijs that make a dance:
Say 'I,' and all shall presently advance.
THESEUS.
I, I, by any meanes, deere Domine.
PERITHOUS.
Produce.
(SCHOOLMASTER.)
Intrate, filij; Come forth, and foot it.--
[Musicke, Dance. Knocke for Schoole.]
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