| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Agesilaus by Xenophon: if speed were requisite; now skulking in corners if concealment
served; in all points observing one rule of behaviour to his friends
and another towards his foes. By turning night into day and day into
night[6] he drew so close a veil of mystery over his movements that
frequently there was no saying where he was, or whither he would go,
or what he might do next. The fastnesses of the enemy he transformed
into so many weaknesses,[7] passing this one by, and scaling that, and
stealing like a thief into a third.
[6] See "Hell." VI. i. 15; "Pol. Lac." v. 7; "Cyrop." I. v. 12.
[7] Or, "the strongholds of the enemy might to all intents and
purposes have been open places."
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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 Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: hot iron on Hester Prynne's forehead. Madame Hester would have
winced at that, I warrant me. But she -- the naughty baggage --
little will she care what they put upon the bodice of her gown
Why, look you, she may cover it with a brooch, or such like.
heathenish adornment, and so walk the streets as brave as ever"
"Ah, but," interposed, more softly, a young wife, holding a
child by the hand, "let her cover the mark as she will, the pang
of it will be always in her heart. "
"What do we talk of marks and brands, whether on the bodice of
The Scarlet Letter |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: lost the unwritten poetry which intoxicated me. To me this refuge
represented the most various phases of human life, shadowed by
misfortune; sometimes the peace of the graveyard without the dead, who
speak in the language of epitaphs; one day I saw in it the home of
lepers; another, the house of the Atridae; but, above all, I found
there provincial life, with its contemplative ideas, its hour-glass
existence. I often wept there, I never laughed.
"More than once I felt involuntary terrors as I heard overhead the
dull hum of the wings of some hurrying wood-pigeon. The earth is dank;
you must be on the watch for lizards, vipers, and frogs, wandering
about with the wild freedom of nature; above all, you must have no
La Grande Breteche |
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 Fisherman's Luck by Henry van Dyke: the stream. He lingered for a few minutes longer to light a pipe.
"Well, old man," I said, "you certainly have succeeded in making an
angler of Mrs. De Peyster."
"Yes, indeed," he answered,--"have n't I?" Then he continued, after
a few thoughtful puffs of smoke, "Do you know, I 'm not quite so
sure as I used to be that fishing is the best of all sports. I
sometimes think of giving it up and going in for croquet."
FISHING IN BOOKS
"SIMPSON.--Have you ever seen any American books on angling, Fisher?"
"FISHER.--No, I do not think there are any published. Brother
Jonathan is not yet sufficiently civilized to produce anything
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