| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from King Henry VI by William Shakespeare: Resign thy chair, and where I stand kneel thou,
Whilst I propose the selfsame words to thee
Which, traitor, thou wouldst have me answer to.
QUEEN MARGARET.
Ah, thy father had been so resolv'd!
GLOSTER.
That you might still have worn the petticoat,
And ne'er have stol'n the breech from Lancaster.
PRINCE.
Let Aesop fable in a winter's night;
His currish riddle sorts not with this place.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Egmont by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: actions, except the grand master of the Order, with the assembled chapter
of knights.
Clara. Oh, thou mightest let the whole world sit in judgment over thee.
The velvet is too splendid! and the braiding! and the embroidery! One
knows not where to begin.
Egmont. There, look thy fill.
Clara. And the Golden Fleece! You told me its history, and said it is the
symbol of everything great and precious, of everything that can be merited
and won by diligence and toil. It is very precious--I may liken it to thy
Egmont |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Glasses by Henry James: of those I had seen in Flora's the day I risked my enquiry. The
question he had asked was one that to my own satisfaction I was
ready to answer, but I hesitated to let him hear as yet all that my
reflections had suggested. I was indeed privately astonished at
their ingenuity. For the present I only rejoined that it struck me
she was playing a particular game; at which he went on as if he
hadn't heard me, suddenly haunted with a fear, lost in the dark
possibility. "Do you mean there's a danger of anything very bad?"
"My dear fellow, you must ask her special adviser."
"Who in the world is her special adviser?"
"I haven't a conception. But we mustn't get too excited. My
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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 A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift: old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether
stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it
will equally serve in a fricasie, or a ragoust.
I do therefore humbly offer it to publick consideration, that of
the hundred and twenty thousand children, already computed,
twenty thousand may be reserved for breed, whereof only one
fourth part to be males; which is more than we allow to sheep,
black cattle, or swine, and my reason is, that these children are
seldom the fruits of marriage, a circumstance not much regarded
by our savages, therefore, one male will be sufficient to serve
four females. That the remaining hundred thousand may, at a year
A Modest Proposal |
