| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: the friends that I still count, I shall be sorry, but I need not be
ashamed.
In one particular the spelling of Samoan words has been altered;
and the characteristic nasal N of the language written throughout
NG instead of G. Thus I put Pango-Pango, instead of Pago-Pago; the
sound being that of soft NG in English, as in SINGER, not as in
FINGER.
R. L. S.
VAILIMA,
UPOLU,
SAMOA.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Prufrock/Other Observations by T. S. Eliot: "That is not it at all,
That is not what I meant, at all."
* * * *
No I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous--
Prufrock/Other Observations |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Hiero by Xenophon: with some great family, superior in wealth and influence, bears away
the palm, since it confers upon the bridegroom not pleasure only but
distinction.[34] Next comes the marriage made with equals; and last,
wedlock with inferiors, which is apt to be regarded as degrading and
disserviceable.
[33] Cf. "Hunting," i. 9. Holden cf. Eur. "Rhes." 168; "Androm." 1255.
[34] Cf. Dem. "in Lept." S. 69, p. 499. See Plat. "Rep." 553 C.
Now for the application: a despotic monarch, unless he weds some
foreign bride, is forced to choose a wife from those beneath him, so
that the height of satisfaction is denied him.[35]
[35] Al. "supreme content, the quintessential bliss, is quite unknown
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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 Ancient Regime by Charles Kingsley: every youth, every maiden, who was distinguished by intellect,
virtue, valour, beauty, without respect to rank or birth; and
rejecting in turn, from its own ranks, each of its own children who
fell below some lofty standard, and showed by weakliness, dulness,
or baseness, incapacity for the post of guiding and elevating their
fellow-citizens. Thus would arise a true aristocracy; a governing
body of the really most worthy--the most highly organised in body
and in mind--perpetually recruited from below: from which, or from
any other ideal, we are yet a few thousand years distant.
But the old Ancien Regime would have shuddered, did shudder, at such
a notion. The supreme class was to keep itself pure, and avoid all
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