| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Lover's Complaint by William Shakespeare: That's to you sworn, to none was ever said;
For feasts of love I have been call'd unto,
Till now did ne'er invite, nor never woo.
'All my offences that abroad you see
Are errors of the blood, none of the mind;
Love made them not; with acture they may be,
Where neither party is nor true nor kind:
They sought their shame that so their shame did find;
And so much less of shame in me remains,
By how much of me their reproach contains.
'Among the many that mine eyes have seen,
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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 Mirror of the Sea by Joseph Conrad: flaming beard over his breast, imposing, colossal, mighty-limbed,
with a thundering voice, distended cheeks and fierce blue eyes,
urging the speed of his gales. The other, the East king, the king
of blood-red sunrises, I represent to myself as a spare Southerner
with clear-cut features, black-browed and dark-eyed, gray-robed,
upright in sunshine, resting a smooth-shaven cheek in the palm of
his hand, impenetrable, secret, full of wiles, fine-drawn, keen -
meditating aggressions.
The West Wind keeps faith with his brother, the King of the
Easterly weather. "What we have divided we have divided," he seems
to say in his gruff voice, this ruler without guile, who hurls as
The Mirror of the Sea |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Enemies of Books by William Blades: the plates of which were taken out, and mounted on Bristol boards,
to enrich his collection. He once showed me the remains of a fine copy
of "Theurdanck," which he had served so, and I have now before me several
of the leaves which he then gave me, and which, for beauty of engraving
and cleverness of typography, surpasses any typographical work known to me.
It was printed for the Emperor Maximilian, by Hans Schonsperger,
of Nuremberg, and, to make it unique, all the punches were cut on purpose,
and as many as seven or eight varieties of each letter, which, together
with the clever way in which the ornamental flourishes are carried
above and below the line, has led even experienced printers to deny
its being typography. It is, nevertheless, entirely from cast types.
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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 Ursula by Honore de Balzac: "Ignorant persons suppose that condition to be sleep. But she will
prove to you that there is a spiritual universe, and that the mind
when there does not obey the laws of this material universe. I will
send her wherever you wish to go,--a hundred miles from here or to
China, as you will. She will tell you what is happening there."
"Send her to my house in Nemours, Rue des Bourgeois; that will do,"
said Minoret.
He took Minoret's hand, which the doctor let him take, and held it for
a moment seeming to collect himself; then with his other hand he took
that of the woman sitting in the arm-chair and placed the hand of the
doctor in it, making a sign to the old sceptic to seat himself beside
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