| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Caesar's Commentaries in Latin by Julius Caesar: Caesar singulis legionibus singulos legatos et quaestorem praefecit,
uti eos testes suae quisque virtutis haberet; ipse a dextro cornu, quod
eam partem minime firmam hostium esse animadverterat, proelium commisit.
Ita nostri acriter in hostes signo dato impetum fecerunt itaque hostes
repente celeriterque procurrerunt, ut spatium pila in hostes coiciendi non
daretur. Relictis pilis comminus gladiis pugnatum est. At Germani
celeriter ex consuetudine sua phalange facta impetus gladiorum exceperunt.
Reperti sunt complures nostri qui in phalanga insilirent et scuta manibus
revellerent et desuper vulnerarent. Cum hostium acies a sinistro cornu
pulsa atque in fugam coniecta esset, a dextro cornu vehementer multitudine
suorum nostram aciem premebant. Id cum animadvertisset P. Crassus
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Daisy Miller by Henry James: "And what is it," he asked, "that you accuse me of thinking of?"
"Of that young lady's--Miss Baker's, Miss Chandler's--what's her name?--
Miss Miller's intrigue with that little barber's block."
"Do you call it an intrigue," Winterbourne asked--"an affair that goes
on with such peculiar publicity?"
"That's their folly," said Mrs. Costello; "it's not their merit."
"No," rejoined Winterbourne, with something of that pensiveness
to which his aunt had alluded. "I don't believe that there
is anything to be called an intrigue."
"I have heard a dozen people speak of it; they say she is quite carried
away by him."
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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 The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen: show the last link in this chain of awful mystery, I do not
know, but if there be any one who can do this, you, Raymond, are
the man. And if you know the secret, it rests with you to tell
it or not, as you please.
I am writing this letter to you immediately on my
getting back to town. I have been in the country for the last
few days; perhaps you may be able to guess in which part. While
the horror and wonder of London was at its height--for "Mrs.
Beaumont," as I have told you, was well known in society--I
wrote to my friend Dr. Phillips, giving some brief outline, or
rather hint, of what happened, and asking him to tell me the
The Great God Pan |
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 Edingburgh Picturesque Notes by Robert Louis Stevenson: going of black clusters, is visible upon the loch. A
little longer, and the first torch is kindled and begins
to flit rapidly across the ice in a ring of yellow
reflection, and this is followed by another and another,
until the whole field is full of skimming lights.
CHAPTER X.
TO THE PENTLAND HILLS.
ON three sides of Edinburgh, the country slopes
downward from the city, here to the sea, there to the fat
farms of Haddington, there to the mineral fields of
Linlithgow. On the south alone, it keeps rising until it
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