| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Chronicles of the Canongate by Walter Scott: tales, entitled "The Highland Widow," "The Two Drovers," and "The
Surgeon's Daughter." In the present volume the two first named
of these pieces are included, together with three detached
stories which appeared the year after, in the elegant compilation
called "The Keepsake." "The Surgeon's Daughter" it is thought
better to defer until a succeeding volume, than to
"Begin, and break off in the middle."
I have, perhaps, said enough on former occasions of the
misfortunes which led to the dropping of that mask under which I
had, for a long series of years, enjoyed so large a portion of
public favour. Through the success of those literary efforts, I
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Nada the Lily by H. Rider Haggard: we sat I thought I heard a rat stir in the thatch.
Then I spoke. "Umslopogaas, at length the hour has come that I should
whisper something into your ear, a word which I have held secret ever
since you were born."
"Speak on, my father," he said, wondering.
I crept to the door of the hut and looked out. The night was dark and
I could see none about, and could hear no one move, yet, being
cautious, I walked round the hut. Ah, my father, when you have a
secret to tell, be not so easily deceived. It is not enough to look
forth and to peer round. Dig beneath the floor, and search the roof
also; then, having done all this, go elsewhere and tell your tale. The
Nada the Lily |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Where There's A Will by Mary Roberts Rinehart: "The idea was this, Minnie," said Mr. Dick. "Old--I mean Mr.
Jennings is--is not well; he has a chronic indisposition--"
"Disposition, I call it," put in Mr. Jennings' daughter.
"And he's apt to regard my running away with Dorothy when I
haven't a penny as more of an embezzlement than an elopement."
"Fiddle!" exclaimed Mrs. Dick. "I asked you to marry me, and now
they're here and have to spoil it all."
The thought of her father and his disposition suddenly
overpowered her and she put her yellow head on the back of a
chair and began to cry.
"I--I can't tell him!" she sobbed. "I wrote to Pat,--why doesn't
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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 Mrs. Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw: getting on famously with me.
CROFTS. Well, I hope I may flatter myself that you think better
of me than you did at first.
VIVIE [quietly] I hardly find you worth thinking about at all
now. When I think of the society that tolerates you, and the
laws that protect you! when I think of how helpless nine out of
ten young girls would be in the hands of you and my mother! the
unmentionable woman and her capitalist bully--
CROFTS [livid] Damn you!
VIVIE. You need not. I feel among the damned already.
[She raises the latch of the gate to open it and go out. He
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