| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Alexandria and her Schools by Charles Kingsley: in the letter, but in spirit and in truth.
For this, if you will consider, is the true meaning of that great
command, "Honour thy father and mother, that thy days may be long in the
land." On reverence for the authority of bygone generations depends the
permanence of every form of thought or belief, as much as of all social,
national, and family life: but on reverence of the spirit, not merely
of the letter; of the methods of our ancestors, not merely of their
conclusions. Ay, and we shall not be able to preserve their
conclusions, not even to understand them; they will die away on our lips
into skeleton notions, and soulless phrases, unless we see that the
greatness of the mighty dead has always consisted in this, that they
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: whom it is hard if no one says something sweet. To me solitude is
like the lump of amber in whose heart an insect lives for ever in
unchanging beauty. Thus the heart and soul of a woman remains pure
and unaltered in the form of their first youth. Is it the
/Tedeschi/ that you regret?
"28th.
"Is your statue never to be finished? I should wish to have you in
marble, in painting, in miniature, in every possible form, to
beguile my impatience. I still am waiting for the view of
Belgirate from the south, and that of the balcony; these are all
that I now lack. I am so extremely busy that to-day I can only
Albert Savarus |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Legend of Montrose by Walter Scott: well as the empty sleeve which should have been occupied by his
right arm, bore evidence of his hard and honourable service. His
weatherbeaten features, his grey hair tied in a thin queue in the
military fashion of former days, and the right side of his head a
little turned up, the better to catch the sound of the
clergyman's voice, were all marks of his profession and
infirmities. Beside him sat his sister Janet, a little neat old
woman, with a Highland curch and tartan plaid, watching the very
looks of her brother, to her the greatest man upon earth, and
actively looking out for him, in his silver-clasped Bible, the
texts which the minister quoted or expounded.
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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 La Grenadiere by Honore de Balzac: heart.
" 'Parentage unknown!' " she cried, with a look that went to their
hearts. "Poor angels, what will become of you? And when you are twenty
years old, what strict account may you not require of my life and your
own?"
She put the children from her, and leaning her arms upon the
balustrade, stood for a while hiding her face, alone with herself,
fearful of all eyes. When she recovered from the paroxysm, she saw
Louis and Marie kneeling on either side of her, like two angels; they
watched the expression of her face, and smiled lovingly at her.
"If only I could take that smile with me!" she said, drying her eyes.
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