| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Malbone: An Oldport Romance by Thomas Wentworth Higginson: away like a shred of foam, and lost amid the whiteness of the
seething froth below. Fifteen minutes after, the hammock came
ashore empty, the lashings having parted.
The cold daybreak was just opening, though the wind still blew
keenly, when they found the body of Emilia. It was swathed in
a roll of sea-weed, lying in the edge of the surf, on a broad,
flat rock near where the young boatman had come ashore. The
face was not disfigured; the clothing was only torn a little,
and tangled closely round her; but the life was gone.
It was Philip who first saw her; and he stood beside her for a
moment motionless, stunned into an aspect of tranquility.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Walden by Henry David Thoreau: receive the bust of a hero or a saint. When I consider how our
houses are built and paid for, or not paid for, and their internal
economy managed and sustained, I wonder that the floor does not give
way under the visitor while he is admiring the gewgaws upon the
mantelpiece, and let him through into the cellar, to some solid and
honest though earthy foundation. I cannot but perceive that this
so-called rich and refined life is a thing jumped at, and I do not
get on in the enjoyment of the fine arts which adorn it, my
attention being wholly occupied with the jump; for I remember that
the greatest genuine leap, due to human muscles alone, on record, is
that of certain wandering Arabs, who are said to have cleared
Walden |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Polity of Athenians and Lacedaemonians by Xenophon: conferred upon the commons, until the present democracy was the
result" (Welldon). "The writer of this passage clearly intended to
class Pericles among the demagogues. He judges him in the same
deprecatory spirit as Plato in the 'Gorgias,' pp. 515, 516."--
Jowett, "Pol. of Aristot." vol. ii. p. 101. But see Aristot.
"Constitution of Athens," ch. xxv., a portion of the newly-
discovered treatise, which throws light on an obscure period in
the history of Athens; and Mr. Kenyon's note ad loc.; and Mr.
Macan's criticism, "Journal of Hellenic Studies," vol. xii. No. 1.
[44] For the {ekatoste}, see Thuc. vii. 28, in reference to the year
B.C. 416; Arist. "Wasps," 658; "Frogs," 363.
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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 De Profundis by Oscar Wilde: Indeed, that is the charm about Christ, when all is said: he is
just like a work of art. He does not really teach one anything,
but by being brought into his presence one becomes something. And
everybody is predestined to his presence. Once at least in his
life each man walks with Christ to Emmaus.
As regards the other subject, the Relation of the Artistic Life to
Conduct, it will no doubt seem strange to you that I should select
it. People point to Reading Gaol and say, 'That is where the
artistic life leads a man.' Well, it might lead to worse places.
The more mechanical people to whom life is a shrewd speculation
depending on a careful calculation of ways and means, always know
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