| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Cromwell by William Shakespeare: Good morrow, morn, I do salute thy brightness.
The night seems tedious to my troubled soul,
Whose black obscurity binds in my mind
A thousand sundry cogitations:
And now Aurora, with a lively dye,
Adds comfort to my spirit that mounts on high--
Too high indeed, my state being so mean.
My study, like a mineral of gold,
Makes my heart proud, wherein my hopes enrolled;
My books is all the wealth I do possess.
[Here within they must beat with their hammers.]
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Four Arthurian Romances by Chretien DeTroyes: ointment, (18) and something still better, if it can be found,
for I am very solicitous about your comfort and your recovery.
And the Queen is so confined that no mortal man has access to her
-- not even my son, who brought her here with him and who resents
such treatment, for never was a man so beside himself and so
desperate as he. But I am well disposed toward you, and will
gladly give you, so help me God, all of which you stand in need.
My son himself will not have such good arms but that I will give
you some that are just as good, and a horse, too, such as you
will need, though my son will be angry with me. Despite the
feelings of any one, I will protect you against all men. You
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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 Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson: material, who, nevertheless, believe it to be immortal."
"Some," answered Imlac, "have indeed said that the soul is
material, but I can scarcely believe that any man has thought it
who knew how to think; for all the conclusions of reason enforce
the immateriality of mind, and all the notices of sense and
investigations of science concur to prove the unconsciousness of
matter.
"It was never supposed that cogitation is inherent in matter, or
that every particle is a thinking being. Yet if any part of matter
be devoid of thought, what part can we suppose to think? Matter
can differ from matter only in form, density, bulk, motion, and
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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 McTeague by Frank Norris: dazed consciousness; Owgooste, whom the almond-eating of
Marcus Schouler had petrified with admiration, was smacked
to a realization of his surroundings.
Old Grannis, with a certain delicacy that was one of his
characteristics, felt instinctively that the guests--the
mere outsiders--should depart before the family began its
leave-taking of Trina. He withdrew unobtrusively, after a
hasty good-night to the bride and groom. The rest followed
almost immediately.
"Well, Mr. Sieppe," exclaimed Marcus, "we won't see each
other for some time." Marcus had given up his first
McTeague |
