| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Phaedrus by Plato: him a divine inspiration which will lead him to things higher still. For
he has an element of philosophy in his nature. This is the message of the
gods dwelling in this place, and which I will myself deliver to Isocrates,
who is my delight; and do you give the other to Lysias, who is yours.
PHAEDRUS: I will; and now as the heat is abated let us depart.
SOCRATES: Should we not offer up a prayer first of all to the local
deities?
PHAEDRUS: By all means.
SOCRATES: Beloved Pan, and all ye other gods who haunt this place, give me
beauty in the inward soul; and may the outward and inward man be at one.
May I reckon the wise to be the wealthy, and may I have such a quantity of
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tattine by Ruth Ogden [Mrs. Charles W. Ide]: "But Grandma," said Tattine, when they had sobered down, "those puppies,
cunning as they are now, will just be cruel setters when they grow up, killing
everything they come across, birds and rabbits and chipmunks."
"Tattine," said Grandma Luty, with her dear, kindly smile "your Mother has
told me how disappointed you have been this summer in Betsy and Doctor and
little Black-and-white, and that now Barney has fallen into disgrace, since he
kept you so long in the ford the other day, but I want to tell you something.
You must not stop loving them at all because they do what you call cruel
things. You have heard the old rhyme:--
"Let dogs delight to bark and bite,
For God has made them so:
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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 Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy: misgivings he did not care to express. "Have you got the celery
ready?" he asked, quickly.
"Now that's a thing I never could mind; no, not if you'd paid me
in silver and gold. And I don't care who the man is, I says that
a stick of celery that isn't scrubbed with the scrubbing-brush is
not clean."
"Very well, very well! I'll attend to it. You go and get 'em
comfortable in-doors."
He hastened to the garden, and soon returned, tossing the stalks
to Creedle, who was still in a tragic mood. "If ye'd ha' married,
d'ye see, maister," he said, "this caddle couldn't have happened
The Woodlanders |
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 Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: Douro, son of the Duke of Wellington, is one.
LETTER: To I.P.D.
AUDLEY END, October 14, 1847
Dear Uncle: We are staying for a few days at Lord Braybrooke's
place, one of the most magnificent in England; but before I say a
word about it I must tell you of A.'s safe arrival and how happy I
have been made by having him with me again. . . . On Saturday the
9th we had the honor of dining with the LORD MAYOR to meet the Duke
of Cambridge, a FETE so unlike anything else and accompanied by so
many old and peculiar customs that I must describe it to you at full
length. The Mansion House is in the heart of the CITY, and is very
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