| 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: Horse-shoe, it will be your own another day: this was not
regarded. Hark you, Thomas, what do you call the fellows that
robbed us?
CROMWELL.
The Bandetti.
HODGE.
The Bandetti, do you call them? I know not what they are called
here, but I am sure we call them plain thieves in England. O
Thomas, that we were now at Putney, at the ale there.
CROMWELL.
Content thee, man; here set up these two bills,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Laches by Plato: other parts, all of which taken together are called virtue.
NICIAS: Certainly.
SOCRATES: Do you agree with me about the parts? For I say that justice,
temperance, and the like, are all of them parts of virtue as well as
courage. Would you not say the same?
NICIAS: Certainly.
SOCRATES: Well then, so far we are agreed. And now let us proceed a step,
and try to arrive at a similar agreement about the fearful and the hopeful:
I do not want you to be thinking one thing and myself another. Let me then
tell you my own opinion, and if I am wrong you shall set me right: in my
opinion the terrible and the hopeful are the things which do or do not
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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 Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne: know what sorrow is. Tell me, for pity's sake, have you seen my
poor child Proserpina pass by the mouth of your cavern?"
"No," answered Hecate, in a cracked voice, and sighing betwixt
every word or two; "no, Mother Ceres, I have seen nothing of
your daughter. But my ears, you must know, are made in such a
way, that all cries of distress and affright all over the world
are pretty sure to find their way to them; and nine days ago,
as I sat in my cave, making myself very miserable, I heard the
voice of a young girl, shrieking as if in great distress.
Something terrible has happened to the child, you may rest
assured. As well as I could judge, a dragon, or some other
Tanglewood Tales |
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 Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin: of his life than in giving him a thousand guineas. The money may be
soon spent, the regret only remaining of having foolishly consumed it;
but in the other case, he escapes the frequent vexation of waiting
for barbers, and of their sometimes dirty fingers, offensive breaths,
and dull razors; he shaves when most convenient to him, and enjoys
daily the pleasure of its being done with a good instrument.
With these sentiments I have hazarded the few preceding pages,
hoping they may afford hints which some time or other may be useful
to a city I love, having lived many years in it very happily,
and perhaps to some of our towns in America.
Having been for some time employed by the postmaster-general
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin |
