| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from From London to Land's End by Daniel Defoe: I could give many more accounts of the different dialects of the
people of this country, in some of which they are really not to be
understood; but the particulars have little or no diversion in
them. They carry it such a length that we see their "jouring"
speech even upon their monuments and grave-stones; as, for example,
even in some of the churchyards of the city of Bristol I saw this
excellent poetry after some other lines:-
"And when that thou doest hear of thick,
Think of the glass that runneth quick."
But I proceed into Devonshire. From Yeovil we came to Crookorn,
thence to Chard, and from thence into the same road I was in before
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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 Apology by Xenophon: deserving of record than the counsel he took with himself[2] (after
being cited to appear before the court), not only with regard to his
defence, but also as to the ending of his life. Others have written on
this theme, and all without exception have touched upon[3] the lofty
style of the philosopher,[4] which may be taken as a proof that the
language used by Socrates was really of that type. But none of these
writers has brought out clearly the fact that Socrates had come to
regard death as for himself preferable to life; and consequently there
is just a suspicion of foolhardiness in the arrogancy of his
address.[5] We have, however, from the lips of one of his intimate
acquaintances, Hermogenes,[6] the son of Hipponicus, an account of him
 The Apology |