| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Parmenides by Plato: By all means.
Then let us begin again, and ask, If one is, what must be the affections of
the others?
Let us ask that question.
Must not the one be distinct from the others, and the others from the one?
Why so?
Why, because there is nothing else beside them which is distinct from both
of them; for the expression 'one and the others' includes all things.
Yes, all things.
Then we cannot suppose that there is anything different from them in which
both the one and the others might exist?
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: with flowers in spite of the time of year, presented a very pleasing
and homelike aspect. The window curtains, of green brocade, the
chimney ornaments, and the mirror frames were untainted by the bad
taste that spoils everything in the provinces; and the smallest
details, all elegant and appropriate, gave the mind and eye a sense of
repose and of poetry which a clever and loving woman can and ought to
infuse into her home.
Madame Sechard, still in mourning for her father, sat by the fire
working at some large piece of tapestry with the help of Madame Kolb,
the housekeeper, to whom she intrusted all the minor cares of the
household.
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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 Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: with the sword of State. Then Prince Albert, leading the Queen,
followed by the Duchess of Sutherland, Mistress of the Robes, and
the Marchioness of Douro, daughter-in-law of the Duke of Wellington,
who is one of the ladies in waiting. The Queen and Prince sit down,
while everybody else remains standing. The Queen then says in a
voice most clear and sweet: "My lords (rolling the r), be seated."
Upon which the peers sit down, except those who enter with the
Queen, who group themselves about the throne in the most picturesque
manner. The Queen had a crown of diamonds, with splendid necklace
and stomacher of the same. The Duchess of Sutherland close by her
side with her ducal coronet of diamonds, and a little back, Lady
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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 New Poems by Robert Louis Stevenson: An' blythe was I to bide a bit.
Licht as o' some hame fireside lit
My life for me.
- Ower early maun I rise an' quit
This happy lee.
TO MADAME GARSCHINE
WHAT is the face, the fairest face, till Care,
Till Care the graver - Care with cunning hand,
Etches content thereon and makes it fair,
Or constancy, and love, and makes it grand?
MUSIC AT THE VILLA MARINA
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