| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Passionate Pilgrim by William Shakespeare: Thou lovest to bear the sweet melodious sound
That Phoebus' lute, the queen of music, makes;
And I in deep delight am chiefly drown'd
Whenas himself to singing he betakes.
One god is god of both, as poets feign;
One knight loves both, and both in thee remain.
IX.
Fair was the morn when the fair queen of love,
* * * * * *
Paler for sorrow than her milk-white dove,
For Adon's sake, a youngster proud and wild;
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen: when or where the next blow would light.
A short while after the last of these terrible events,
Austin came to see Mr. Villiers. He was curious to know whether
Villiers had succeeded in discovering any fresh traces of Mrs.
Herbert, either through Clarke or by other sources, and he asked
the question soon after he had sat down.
"No," said Villiers, "I wrote to Clarke, but he remains
obdurate, and I have tried other channels, but without any
result. I can't find out what became of Helen Vaughan after she
left Paul Street, but I think she must have gone abroad. But to
tell the truth, Austin, I haven't paid much attention to the
The Great God Pan |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Cousin Betty by Honore de Balzac: my dear, by Jove!--And now you see how wrong you were to be so
prudish, for those three hundred thousand francs that you refused so
magnanimously are in another woman's pocket. I loved you then, I love
you still; but just look back these three years.
"When I said to you, 'You shall be mine,' what object had I in view? I
meant to be revenged on that rascal Hulot. But your husband, my
beauty, found himself a mistress--a jewel of a woman, a pearl, a
cunning hussy then aged three-and-twenty, for she is six-and-twenty
now. It struck me as more amusing, more complete, more Louis XV., more
Marechal de Richelieu, more first-class altogether, to filch away that
charmer, who, in point of fact, never cared for Hulot, and who for
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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 The Human Drift by Jack London: criticised the seamanship of their officers, and estimated the
duration of their exile from the cubic space of the hide-house.
JACK LONDON
Glen Ellen, California,
August 13, 1911.
A WICKED WOMAN
(Curtain Raiser)
BY JACK LONDON
Scene--California.
Time--Afternoon of a summer day.
CHARACTERS
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