| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lucile by Owen Meredith: The bases of cosmical structure: some mention
Of the nebulous theory demands your attention;
And so on.
"In short, it is clear the interior
Of your brain, my dear Alfred, is vastly superior
In fibre, and fulness, and function, and fire,
To that of my poor parliamentary squire;
But your life leaves upon me (forgive me this heat
Due to friendship) the sense of a thing incomplete.
You fly high. But what is it, in truth, you fly at?
My mind is not satisfied quite as to that.
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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 Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring by George Bernard Shaw: whilst the imagination of his contemporaries remained on fire
with the novelties of dramatic music, led them to overrate him
with an extravagance which provoked Wagner to conduct a long
critical campaign against his leadership. Thirty years ago this
campaign was mentably ascribed to the professional jealousy of a
disappointed rival. Nowadays young people cannot understand how
anyone could ever have taken Meyerbeer's influence seriously.
Those who remember how his reputation stood half a century ago,
and who realize what a nothoroughfare the path he opened proved
to be, even to himself, know how inevitable and how impersonal
Wagner's attack was.
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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 Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbot: of a State-secret which they were not to be permitted to reveal --
he again addressed the Counsellors. "My Lords, the business
of the Council being concluded, I have only to wish you
a happy New Year." Before departing, he expressed, at some length,
to the Clerk, my excellent but most unfortunate brother,
his sincere regret that, in accordance with precedent and for the sake
of secrecy, he must condemn him to perpetual imprisonment,
but added his satisfaction that, unless some mention were made by him
of that day's incident, his life would be spared.
Section 19. How, though the Sphere shewed me other mysteries
of Spaceland, I still desired more; and what came of it
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions |
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 Arabian Nights by Robert Louis Stevenson: shook them both out of their reflections.
"Alas, can I do nothing to help you?" she said, looking up.
"Madam," replied Denis, with a fine irrelevancy, "if I have said
anything to wound you, believe me, it was for your own sake and not
for mine."
She thanked him with a tearful look.
"I feel your position cruelly," he went on. "The world has been
bitter hard on you. Your uncle is a disgrace to mankind. Believe
me, madam, there is no young gentleman in all France but would be
glad of my opportunity, to die in doing you a momentary service."
"I know already that you can be very brave and generous," she
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