| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: confessor to Lord Allan's father when the family were Catholic.
But mony a time," he said, "I hae soughed thae dark words ower to
myself, and, well-a-day! little did I think of their coming round
this day."
"Truce with your nonsense, and let me hear the doggerel which
has put it into your head," said the Master, impatiently.
With a quivering voice, and a cheek pale with apprehension,
Caleb faltered out the following lines:
"When the last Laird of Ravenswood to Ravenswood shall ride,
And woo a dead maiden to be his bride,
He shall stable his steed in the Kelpie's flow,
The Bride of Lammermoor |
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 Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: thought it rather civil to conform to the term my father had made use of
than not. When a man is hemm'd in by two indecorums, and must commit one
of 'em--I always observe--let him chuse which he will, the world will blame
him--so I should not be astonished if it blames my uncle Toby.
My A..e, quoth my uncle Toby, is much better--brother Shandy--My father had
formed great expectations from his Asse in this onset; and would have
brought him on again; but doctor Slop setting up an intemperate laugh--and
my mother crying out L... bless us!--it drove my father's Asse off the
field--and the laugh then becoming general--there was no bringing him back
to the charge, for some time--
And so the discourse went on without him.
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