| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Master of Ballantrae by Robert Louis Stevenson: whimpering. I know nothing less respectable than the tears of
drunkenness, and turned my back impatiently on this poor sight.
But he had started himself (I am to suppose) on that slippery
descent of self-pity; on the which, to a man unstrung by old
sorrows and recent potations there is no arrest except exhaustion.
His tears continued to flow, and the man to sit there, three parts
naked, in the cold air of the chamber. I twitted myself
alternately with inhumanity and sentimental weakness, now half
rising in my bed to interfere, now reading myself lessons of
indifference and courting slumber, until, upon a sudden, the
QUANTUM MUTATUS AB ILLO shot into my mind; and calling to
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay: talking, and it grew intensely cold. None noticed it.
"What is your name?" asked Maskull, with a beating heart.
"My name, Maskull, is Spadevil. You, a voyager across the dark ocean
of space, shall be my first witness and follower. You, Tydomin, a
daughter of the despised sex, shall be my second."
"The new law? But what is it?"
"Until eye sees, of what use it is for ear to hear? .. .. Come, both
of you, to me!"
Tydomin went to him unhesitatingly. Spadevil pressed his hand on her
sorb and kept it there for a few minutes, while he closed his own
eyes. When he removed it, Maskull observed that the sorb 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 The Battle of the Books by Jonathan Swift: as it becometh infinite justice and mercy; and since it was Thy
pleasure to afflict her with a long, constant, weakly state of
health, make her truly sensible that it was for very wise ends, and
was largely made up to her in other blessings, more valuable and
less common. Continue to her, O Lord, that firmness and constancy
of mind wherewith Thou hast most graciously endowed her, together
with that contempt of worldly things and vanities that she hath
shown in the whole conduct of her life. O All-powerful Being, the
least motion of whose Will can create or destroy a world, pity us,
the mournful friends of Thy distressed servant, who sink under the
weight of her present condition, and the fear of losing the most
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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 The Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring by George Bernard Shaw: artificial empire of law, and establish a true republic of free
thought.
This is by no means the only difficulty in the dominion of Law.
The brute force for its execution must be purchased; and the mass
of its subjects must be persuaded to respect the authority which
employs this force. But how is such respect to be implanted in
them if they are unable to comprehend the thought of the
lawgiver? Clearly, only by associating the legislative power with
such displays of splendor and majesty as will impress their
senses and awe their imaginations. The god turned lawgiver, in
short, must be crowned Pontiff and King. Since he cannot be known
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